AU names chief for future hybrid force in Darfur

KHARTOUM, May 24 (Reuters) The African Union has appointed a top Nigerian army general to command its peacekeeping force in Darfur, and said he will ultimately head a larger ''hybrid'' force of United Nations and African troops in Sudan's west.

Khartoum rejects a hybrid force for Darfur of more than 20,000 troops and police approved by the United Nations as necessary to halt bloodshed in Darfur, where the world body says 200,000 people have been killed since conflict flared in 2003.

The African Union, whose roughly 7,000 peacekeepers for Darfur have been unable to quell violence there, named the new commander as General Martin Luther Agwai, 58, who was Nigeria's defence chief and has prior UN peacekeeping experience.

''General Agwai will serve first as the force commander of the African Union Mission in the Sudan and ultimately as the Force Commander for the AU-UN hybrid operation,'' the African Union said in a statement seen by Reuters today.

He replaces Major General Luke Aprezi, also a Nigerian.

The African Union said Agwai would be assisted by a deputy but did not name him. Agwai has been Nigeria's defence chief since June 2006, overseeing the army, navy and air force.

Agwai also served as deputy force commander for the United Nations peacekeeping force that helped end civil war in Sierra Leone. He has worked as a peacekeeping adviser for the United Nations in New York as well.

Sudan's government agreed in April to a UN ''heavy support package'' of more than 3,000 military personnel for Darfur, where the world body says more than 2 million have been displaced since 2003 in ethnic and political conflict. The United Nations and African Union hope to switch later to a larger force.

Rights groups accuse Khartoum of arming Arab Janjaweed militias, blamed for a host of atrocities in the region, to quell a Darfur rebellion. Khartoum denies supporting the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has emphasised that the commander of a hybrid peacekeeping force and his deputy would be Africans, which he said should alleviate Sudanese concerns.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has opposed troops on the ground from anywhere but Africa, saying that others could participate in command centres and help with logistics.

A senior African Union officer said yesterday in Darfur that UN military personnel set to bolster African peacekeepers as part of the heavy support package need at least three to four months to get in place.

But the officer said that while attack helicopters included in the heavy support package would help deter attacks on AU patrols and that the additional personnel were welcome, the influx was too small to decrease Darfur violence significantly.

''Eventually, I think they will have to accept either a hybrid or a bigger force, whatever they call it,'' he said, speaking on condition of anonymity at an African Union base in el-Geneina in West Darfur.

''We can only decrease if our troop levels are doubled or tripled. We would prefer 18,000-plus because the size of the area is huge,'' he said. He added the attack helicopters would only be used as a deterrent and in self-defence.

REUTERS AK BST2030