US urges NATO to help in Darfur - Russia offers 200 peacekeepers and helicopter strike force as part of UN's Darfur mission

The Scotsman 6 February 2006 says the US yesterday urged NATO to play a bigger role in helping peacekeeping efforts in Darfur amid reports of daily cross-border raids by Janjaweed into neighbouring Chad. Excerpt:

Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, said NATO could offer more logistics, intelligence and planning assistance to the 7,000-strong African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, including the deployment of a small number of experts on the ground.

Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defence minister, said his country was willing to send 200 peacekeepers and a helicopter strike force to Darfur as part of a UN mission, which could take a year to deploy.