African Union extension of Darfur forces praised -
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Published on: 6/3/2006
Last Visited: 9/3/2006
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul -Gheit lauded the 7th African Union summit which wound up Sunday in the Gambian capital Banjul and said the summit witnessed enlightened and profound debates.
On Darfur, he said it is one of the heated issues on the African arena, asserting the importance of the decision reached by African leaders on the extension of the mandate of the African Union force in Darfur till the end of this year instead of the end of September.
The decision was the fruit of several talks held on the sidelines of the summit between Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, he said.
He reiterated Egypt's belief in the need to seek the approval of the hosting country of peacekeeping troops in order to guarantee a secure and systematic transfer of the AU's peacekeeping mission to the UN, if there is going to be any.