وأخيرا وافقوا !!!!!!!! باللفة حفظا لما تبقى من ماء وجوههم

Quote: KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir welcomes U.N. support for an African Union force monitoring a widely ignored truce in Sudan's violent Darfur region, state media reported on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT Foreign Minister Lam Akol said such help would include financial, logistical and technical support. "This could involve technical personnel, 10 to 20, who can assist the African Union ... under AU command," he told Reuters. "The issue is to strengthen the capacity of the AU to carry out the task of implementing the ... peace deal," he added, referring to a peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction. Sudan had set itself on a path of confrontation with the international community rejecting a U.N. Security Council resolution to deploy more than 20,000 U.N. troops to Darfur to replace 7,000 AU forces. But Bashir told the state-owned news agency he would accept U.N. support for the AU mission, which has struggled to find cash, equipment and experience to stem the violence that has forced 2.5 million people from their homes. "Omar Hassan al-Bashir affirmed that Sudan welcomed U.N. support for the African Union mission in Sudan to help it fulfill its mandate," SUNA said. The comments were more conciliatory from the president who has been inciting nationalist sentiment against U.N. troops, likening it to a colonial plan for a Western invasion. One government source told Reuters the president might consider a third compromise option involving international troops from Muslim nations to support the AU. Observers say the government fears U.N. troops may be used to arrest officials likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court investigating alleged war crimes in Darfur. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in 3-1/2 years of rape, murder and pillage in Darfur. Washington calls the violence genocide, a term Khartoum rejects. Since an AU-mediated peace deal in May, violence has only escalated in Darfur with tens of thousands more forced to flee their homes with U.N. and AU reports of the government bombing villages once more. The deal was signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions and a new alliance of non-signatories renewed hostilities with the government in June. The AU extended its mandate until the end of the year but has made it clear it wants out of the quagmire of violence in Darfur. But diplomatic deadlock over Khartoum's refusal of U.N. transition has left Darfuris vulnerable and frustrated. Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of marginalization and favoring Arab tribes. A Sudanese journalist, Abu Obeida Abdallah, a specialist on Darfur, was held incommunicado for a sixth day in Khartoum. One state security source said he was likely being held in relation to Darfur. Kamal Hassan Bakhiet, editor of the al-Rai al-Aam paper where Abdallah works, on Thursday clarified earlier comments and said Abdallah's detention had no relation to the investigation into the beheading of a Sudanese journalist last month.