The African Union (AU) may boost the number of troops deployed to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to 2,000 from 300, subject to the move gaining approval at a meeting of its members, a spokesman said today.
"The AU plans to increase troop strength of its protection force for Darfur from 300 to 2,000 with Nigeria and Rwanda offering to send 1,000 troops each," AU spokesman Mr Adam Thiam said.
He said the force could also have its mandate broadened to serve as peacekeepers, but this would need approval from the AU's security body, the Peace and Security Council.
AU spokesman Mr Adam Thiam
He said the proposal needed the approval of the AU's 15-member security body, the Peace and Security Council, which would also look at broadening the original mandate of the AU force to include a peacekeeping role as well as protecting truce monitors in Darfur.
It was not immediately clear when the Council, whose principal aim is to "promote peace, security and stability in Africa", would meet, but Thiam said troop deployment was expected to begin this week.
The United Nations says the world's worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in western Sudan, where fighting between rebels and Janjaweed militia has killed at least 30,000 people and uprooted 1 million, who have sought refuge in barren camps.
The Netherlands said yesterday it would fund a mission to fly 360 AU troops to Darfur.
The UN Security Council has given Khartoum 30 days to disarm and prosecute the Janjaweed, drawn from the nomadic Arab population, or face sanctions.