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Last update: 12-Jun-2006 18:01 NATO Update

7 June 2006

 

African Union asks further NATO assistance for Darfur

Background
NATO’s assistance to the African Union
for Darfur

In a letter to the NATO Secretary General on 7 June, the Chairperson of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare, asked for enhanced NATO assistance to the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The Alliance is already supporting the African Union by providing airlift in and out of Darfur for its peacekeepers, and training its officers.

In the letter, Mr. Konare asks the Alliance to provide additional assistance including: certification of the troops that are earmarked for the peacekeeping force; assisting the African Union with lessons learned; and supporting the African Union in setting up a Joint Operations Centre.

Support also for UN

“That is a positive reaction to what has been discussed in the North Atlantic Council and we are now moving on with this,” NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters.

The Secretary General was speaking during a meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels, 8 June, which among other issues discussed Mr. Konare’s letter.

In a communiqué from the meeting, Ministers said that the Alliance is also considering support for a possible UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur.

“That was also discussed… in the hope that at a certain stage the very good work, the African Union has been doing and is doing at the very moment will be taken over by the United Nations,” said Mr. De Hoop Scheffer.