UNITED NATIONS - UN chief Kofi Annan said that he was waiting for Khartoum to
clarify contentious points of a tentative deal for a peacekeeping force in
Darfur amid fears the conflict there could spiral out of control.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan talks
to reporters during a break of the high level talks in Addis Ababa at the
AU headquarters, on the Darfur crisis, 16 November 2006. Annan said that
he was waiting for Khartoum to clarify contentious points of a tentative
deal for a peacekeeping force in Darfur amid fears the conflict there
could spiral out of control.[AFP]
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Annan, who is to step down at the
end of December after 10 years in office, briefed the Security Council on the
high-level talks he attended in Addis Ababa last week and which yielded
agreement on a UN-African Union (African Union) force for Darfur subject to
Sudanese clarifications.
"I spoke to (Sudanese) President (Omar) al-Beshir today and he has indicated
he will be writing to me shortly," Annan told reporters at the end of the
closed-door council consultations. "I think I should wait for his letter."
Annan is seeking clarifications from Beshir on the size of the force - which
the UN foresees at 17,000 troops and 3,000 police - how the force commander
should be appointed and the role of the special representative who would report
to both the UN and the AU, Annan said.
The Addis Ababa deal came after Sudan resisted intense
international pressure to accept a robust UN force to replace the ill-equipped
AU contingent in Darfur. But Khartoum has also denied agreeing to the "hybrid"
formula.
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