UN envoys hold meetings in Sudan on supporting African Union forces there

Senior United Nations officials are in Sudan holding talks with African Union (AU) and government officials in Khartoum on how the world body can best help address the situation in strife-torn Darfur.

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi and Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno, together with the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, held a meeting in Khartoum with the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Al-Tigani Fadhel, followed by a meeting with First Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha.

Over the weekend, the three UN envoys visited Darfur, where they met with African Union officials and UN personnel operating in the area. Discussions focused on the humanitarian and security situation.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended a three-phase approach for deploying forces in Darfur, with the first phase involving an authorized strength of 3,320. The second phase would entail deployments through August expanding the African Union mission to 5,887, and the final phase would require more than 12,000 military and police personnel to carry out a complex, multidimensional operation.