Khartoum accepts the expansion of the protection force in Darfur

The Sudanese government agreed to increase the number of military men from the African Union assigned to protect the observers in Darfur; while the special court in Neyala (southern Darfur) sentenced to death three members of the militias and imprisonment sentences against other three between 3 and 5 years in Jail over their involvement in killing and stealing operations.

Majzoub al- Khaleifa, one of the Sudanese main negotiators in Abuja negotiations with the rebels of Darfur, told the independent daily "al-Rai al-Am" that Khartoum notified the UN and the African Union its consent to receive more military men to protect the observers deployed in Darfur.

At the meantime, the African Union deploys 133 observers with missions to supervise the implementation of the cease- fire agreement signed on April 8 between the Sudanese government and the movement for Justice And Equality and the Sudan Lberation Movement in Darfur and assigned the African Union forces of 300 soldiers from Rwanda and Nigeria the mission of protecting those observers.

Yan Brunik, the special representative for the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to Sudan, announced on Thursday that the African Union and the UN are studying a plan to deploy 5,000 troops ( observers and protection forces ) in Darfur.