Annan fails to persuade Sudan to accept Darfur force

Rebels have attacked African Union forces in Darfur refugee camps. Picture / Reuters.

BANJUL, Gambia - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has failed to persuade Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir to allow a UN force into Darfur, but said he still expected it to be deployed eventually.

Annan met Bashir on the fringes of an African Union summit where he called the Darfur crisis "one of the worst nightmares in recent history".

He told a news conference the United Nations would work with the AU to strengthen its under-resourced 7000-strong force in Sudan's western region.

The AU has been unable to stem the crisis in Darfur, where tens of thousands have died in three years of rape and murder.

It had wanted to pull its force out of Darfur on September 30 and have it replaced by UN troops. But its chairman Denis Sassau Nguesso, said on Sunday it had agreed to a UN request to extend the mandate of its military mission in by three months until the end of 2006.

Referring to his meeting with Bashir, Annan said: "I of course continued to press for the eventual deployment for a UN force in Darfur and we agreed that dialogue had to continue."

He added: "President Bashir has indicated that in the world of politics things change. We hear 'never' and ... yet in time it does come round and so I am still expecting that in time there will be a UN peacekeeping force deployed in Darfur."

Western powers, the UN and analysts all say the crisis, in which 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes into squalid camps, can only be stopped by a strong UN force.

Khartoum says the deployment would be a Western invasion, attracting Islamic militants and creating an Iraq-like quagmire.

Annan said a conference would be held in Brussels on July 18 to seek support for the AU force and Bashir would present a plan for the next six months by the end of July.

Annan said a May 5 peace deal signed by Khartoum and one rebel group must be implemented immediately. The agreement has been undermined by its rejection by two other rebel groups and AU forces have been attacked in refugee camps. Annan said the hold-out groups must be brought on board.

- REUTERS