NATO rules out troop presence in Darfur

AP report Mar 7, 2006 saying NATO rules out troop presence in Darfur is no different from what NATO has been saying all along over the past year. Excerpt:

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer ruled out on Monday sending troops from the western military alliance to Sudan's strife-torn Darfur province. De Hoop Scheffer said he believed that NATO could help in the region during the transition phase from an African Union operation to one led by the United Nations but only with a clear UN mandate.

"Then we can discuss a NATO role, which I do see in the enabling sphere and not the boots of troops on the ground," he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Innsbruck, Austria.

Update: Mar 7 2006 (PoTP) Jones: NATO not asked to intervene in Sudan - NATO officials have not been asked to prepare for taking a greater role in Darfur, despite widespread calls for more Western military support to stop the ethnic violence there, the alliance's commander told lawmakers Tuesday.