UN Security Council told that Sudan Government is closer to agreeing on UN Darfur force

UN press release 15 June 2006 confirms the Security Council told recent mission to Sudan successful, although agreement not reached on transfer of peacekeeping to UN.

The head of the UN Security Council delegation that recently visited Darfur, said today that such an agreement was now a "probability" UN News Centre reported 15 June 2006. Excerpt:

Speaking to reporters in New York today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan also emphasized the importance of the Agreement and repeated his earlier calls for the AU force on the ground to be strengthened.

"We need to maintain the pressure on those who have signed the Agreement to live up to the Agreement that they have signed. That goes for the Sudanese Government that has responsibility for the disarmament of the Janjaweed, and for the rebel groups, and to maintain the pressure on the two rebel groups that are outside the Agreement to join the process."

"And the African Union forces on the ground should be strengthened to do what they can. We are not on the ground yet, and cannot therefore take this on."

A joint UN-African Union team arrived in Darfur on Tuesday aiming to strengthen the AU monitoring force already there and to prepare for its possible transition to a full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation.