Sudan reiterates rejection of UN force in Darfur, calling for African peacekeepers to be strengthened

AP report 28 Aug 2006 via Easy bourse - excerpt:

A senior US diplomat Jendayi Frazer left Sudan without meeting President Omar al-Bashir after Khartoum rejected demands that it approve the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in war-torn Darfur.

Frazer departed Sudan late Sunday, a day before the UN Security Council was to discuss a draft resolution on the peacekeepers.

Frazer had been expected to deliver a message from US President George W Bush to al-Bashir.

Sudanese President al-Bashir was unable to meet the American diplomat "due to his crowded schedule," the president's office said.

Instead, Frazer handed the message to presidential adviser Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmed, who in turn gave her a message from al-Bashir repeating his rejection of the U.N. force, presidential spokesman Mahjub Badry, told reporters.

Instead of the UN force, al-Bashir has called for the African peacekeepers to be strengthened - and he has said he plans to send Sudanese troops to Darfur to pacify the region.