Annan will propose to the Security Council a new level of support to AMIS - UN peacekeepers will come from Africa and Asia as helpers

July 18 2006 report by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan - excerpt:

I will propose to the Security Council that the United Nations be authorized to provide a new level of support to AMIS, as agreed during our joint assessment mission. But, this support will complement -- not substitute for -- what is being asked of you today. We cannot afford to lose another day before we start giving AMIS the extra resources that it needs.

AMIS must be able to concentrate on the many complex tasks that the Peace Agreement requires it to undertake; on protecting civilians, and on responding to ceasefire violations.

United Nations peacekeeping forces -- which will come primarily from Africa and Asia, with some additional, and much needed, support from developed countries -- will come to Darfur not as occupiers, but as helpers.

Jul 18 2006 EU welcomes tentative breakthrough on Darfur: Khartoum agrees to AMIS operating under UN umbrella

Jul 19 2006 EU's Solana: Khartoum closer to change of position on UN Mission in Darfur

Jul 19 2006 AND/Gaberone Bureau report - Botswana to send troops to Darfur ony under UN auspices - Speaking to the local media recently, the minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Mompati Merafhe, said "As government, our standpoint currently is that we are not in a position to send troops to be part of the African Union contingent." He added that Botswana will do that only when the Sudanese government has agreeds to allow UN troops to replace the African Union peacekeeping forces.



Photo: Kenyan, Zambian and Rwandan soldiers working in Darfur for AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan) take turns practicing marksman skills on a 50-calibre heavy machine gun in the Kabkabyia area of North Darfur, Saturday, June 24, 2006. The A.U. has 7,000 men and women in Darfur, a region of 150,000 square miles (388,500 square kilometers), roughly the size of France, where punishing heat and frequent sandstorms take their toll on troops and equipment. (AP Photo)