The announcement was made up on the conclusion of a two-day in door meeting held among the government of Sudan, UN and AU officials. However Sudan has been refusing in the past to accept the proposed hybrid force, the Addis Ababa meeting helped diplomats to reach this agreement which would be endorsed by the Security Council soon.
The participants discussed the comprehensive clarifications jointly provided by the AU and UN on the hybrid operation in Darfur, as contained in the report of the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the AU Commission on the hybrid operation, in particular its specific recommendations about the mandate and structure of the operation under the AU but with the support of the United Nations, and details on its various components and tasks.
The participants further agreed on the need for an immediate comprehensive ceasefire, accompanied by an inclusive political process, and stressed the need for troops and police contributing countries as well as donors to facilitate the early and successful implementation of the hybrid operation.
For the moment, the United Nations has already specified that African infantry troops would be given priority in the force but, if a sufficient number could not be found, soldiers from other regions would be recruited. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said however that "if it's conditional (…) that there will be only African troops involved and no non-Africans, that's putting a condition on the acceptance and that would be unacceptable”. "Several of us are of the view that we have to go with additional sanctions" to pressure the government to cooperate on Darfur, where experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been made homeless by the conflict, he added.
Other former pacts to resolve the Darfur conflict had failed to come to fruition. Let’s hope this time this operation would contribute significantly to the stabilization of the situation in Darfur in its political, humanitarian and security dimensions.