US asks Arab govts to reassure Khartoum on mandate of UN force for Darfur

AP report via ST 26 Oct 2006 - US's Rice confers with UN's Annan as Darfur deteriorates - excerpt:

The Sudanese leader and other top officials have said they are concerned that the U.N. force could be used to track down and arrest leaders of the Sudanese government, McCormack [Rice's spokesman] said.

"We have said that this is not the mandate of this U.N., force," he said, and the United States has asked Arab governments to reassure them on that score.

"We ask them to do that in every way that they possibly can," McCormack said.