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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The African Union has objected to a proposal for a 23,000-strong AU-U.N. force to help end the bloodshed in Sudan's troubled Darfur region because it would give the United Nations command and control, U.N. diplomats said.
The African Union wants joint control of the force, the final phase of a three-stage U.N. plan to bolster the beleaguered 7,000-strong AU force currently on the ground in Darfur, U.N. diplomats said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations to resolve the dispute are private.
The United Nations announced on May 24 that the AU and U.N. had agreed on the proposal for the hybrid force, and it was handed to Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad the following day. But on Friday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was forced to backtrack.
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