Nato on Tuesday moved closer to approving non-combat aid for the African Union’s beleaguered peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
The North Atlantic Council of alliance ambassadors said they approved the ”initial military options” for possible Nato support for the peacekeeping mission and said their efforts would focus on military transport, training and planning.
Last week, the African Union Commission’s President, Alpha Oumar Konare, came to the alliance headquarters to seek logistical Nato support but insisted that troops on the ground will be exclusively African.
Nato endorsed this approach on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the crisis with European Union foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. He will try to get a more detailed assessment of the military needs in Darfur.
”Following that meeting, and based on further clarification and confirmation of the AU’s requirements, the NAC will consider, as quickly as possible, more detailed options for support,” the Nato statement said.
Nato is working closely with the European Union and the United Nations to prepare the mission and has said it will not impose itself on the AU.
On Monday, Britain offered trucks and France offered transport planes as EU nations sought to help African peacekeepers end one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
EU defence ministers meeting on Monday also offered help with command planning, surveillance and housing for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The EU will not send peacekeeping troops and will leave overall command of the operation to the African Union. Nato and EU officials have said they will be careful not to create any overlap in the operations.
France has been reticent about Nato involvement, saying the EU is better placed to help. Paris is worried that Nato involvement in Africa could undermine France’s traditional influence on the continent.
The EU has already sent military advisers to help the AU mission and is spending â,¬92-million ($116,25-million) to cover almost half the costs of the operation.
The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 after rebels took up arms, complaining of discrimination by Sudan’s Arab-dominated government. The government is accused of responding by backing a scorched-earth counterinsurgency by Arab militias.
War-induced hunger and disease has killed more than 180 000 people, according to UN estimates. At least two million have been made homeless by the conflict. There is no firm estimate of the number killed in fighting. – Sapa-AP