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Washington - The UN and the African Union are close to a deal on fielding 23,000 peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region, but full deployment is not expected until at least next year.
Sudan has still to agree to the "hybrid" UN-AU force, after it refused to have an operation controlled solely by the UN. Top UN and AU officials approved a revised plan, which the AU's Peace and Security Committee and the UN Security Council are expected to endorse.
Should Sudan delay approval, the US and Britain want to push for sanctions, including a no-fly zone over Darfur to help put an end to fighting that has uprooted more than two million people. Experts estimate 200,000 people have died.
In Heligendamm, Germany, US President George W. Bush said on the first day of a summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations: "I want to see people helping Darfur by joining us and sending clearer and stronger messages to President [Omar] Bashir of Sudan."
- REUTERS
