Sudan's leader postpones UN meeting on Darfur

Sudanese President Bashir on Wednesday declined an invitation to attend a UN Security Council next week to explain his plan to deploy more than 10,000 Sudanese troops to Darfur instead of a UN peacekeeping operation, DPA/M&C reported today - excerpt:

Al-Bashir said such a meeting was welcome to consolidate the peace process in Darfur.

But he added, 'In view of having a fruitful discussion of the council on the matter, with the effective participation of regional organizations strongly engaged in the situation in Darfur, we deem it appropriate to postpone the meeting to enable better preparations.'

There was no immediate response from Effah-Apenteng as the council had no formal meeting on Wednesday. The three organizations invited [the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference and African Union] did not respond.