Khartoum has agreed to an interim deployment of 3,000 UN peacekeepers in support of the African Union (AU) in Darfur. UN officials, however, have announced that enacting this measure may take as long as six months, while Sudan is yet to condone the third phase of peacekeeping operations, which would involve deployment of a further 20,000 personnel in support of the overstretched AU teams already on the ground. Although described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as "a very positive sign," US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff has expressed scepticism. After all, this path has been stymied before. US-British intensions to enact sanctions against the Khartoum government remain on the table. [Reuters, April 17]

From Madrid11.net Security Briefs, April 17

See our last post on Sudan and Darfur.