Sudanese FVP Kiir wants troops in Darfur even without Khartoum's OK

SudanTribune 22 November 2006 (CAIRO) - excerpt:

The international community should send peacekeepers to Darfur with or without Khartoum's approval, the Sudanese regime's number two Salva Kiir has said.

"My position has always been very clear... that international forces should come to save lives," the Sudanese first vice president told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday.

Asked if the Sudanese government's consent should be a prerequesite to any deployment, Kiir said: "It should not be a condition. There will be no reason, if people are dying... and it should not restrict the international community from coming in to save lives."

His comment came a day after a Darfur summit in Libya attended by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed to seek an "African solution" to the crisis which has rocked Africa's largest country for four years and threatens to spill over into neighbouring states.