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Sudan accepts plan

KHARTOUM: The Sudanese Government has agreed to a U.N. peacekeeping role in the troubled Darfur region, but in a mission with mostly African Union troops and an African commander, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Sadeq al-Magli did not specify on Friday how many troops would be accepted but said the U.N. would mainly provide technical assistance, consultants and military and police experts. He added that the force would be commanded by the African Union. The United Nations had been pushing for a much larger role in Darfur — where AU peacekeepers are already operating — in an effort to put an end to fighting that has claimed more than 200,000 lives and left 2.5 million displaced. But Mr. Al-Magli's comments reflected his Government's long-standing opposition to the deployment of 20,000 U.N. troops as proposed by the U.N. Security Council. In deference to Khartoum's opposition, the U.N. scaled back its plans to replace the AU force in Darfur with a much bigger U.N. operation. — AP

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