AU agrees to shift its Darfur force to UN - Annan

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 (Reuters) UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that the African Union had agreed to expand and transform its peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region into a UN force.

''From what we know now, they have at least agreed to work on a six-month extension and to work with the United Nations on the transition,'' Annan told reporters at UN headquarters.

''That is the decision that has been taken.'' The AU Peace and Security Council, meeting in Addis Ababa today, had voted to extend its mission in Darfur until September 30 to buy time to break an impasse over the transfer of peacekeeping duties in Sudan's vast west to UN forces.

But it was not immediately clear what the immediate impact of that action would be on UN preparations for taking over the mission.

Annan said the vote would allow the United Nations to continue with its contingency planning for the transition and send an assessment mission to the region to consult with the African Union on what is needed on the ground.

But US Ambassador John Bolton injected a note of caution, saying UN diplomats had only fragmentary information.

''Certainly it is correct to say, as we understand it, that the Peace and Security Council reaffirmed its decision that there should be a transition to a UN mission in Darfur,'' Bolton told reporters.

''But I think that before we comment further it is important that we, the United States and other (Security) Council members have a chance to review exactly what the African Union said,'' he added.

The pan-African group was under intense international pressure to turn over Darfur peacekeeping to the United Nations but Sudan said any such action would spell the end of AU-mediated peace talks on Darfur.

Reuters PG VP0347