The British and French ambassadors to the United Nations on Friday announced that the Security Council would make a weeklong visit to Africa next week. Ten Security Council ambassadors will participate, making it the largest ever council trip. It will begin Monday night in Khartoum, said British Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry. The council will spend two days in Khartoum, meeting with top Sudanese officials, including President Omar al Bashir and opposition parties, before flying to Addis Ababa on Wednesday to meet with leaders of the African Union (AU), which is performing the current peacekeeping mission in Darfur. On Thursday, the council will go to Juba, in southern Sudan, to meet U.N. peacekeepers and southern Sudanese dignitaries. On Friday, ambassadors will go to El Fasher in Darfur to speak to non-governmental organizations and AU force commanders, before moving on to N'djamena, Chad. On Friday, council members will fly to Abeche, Chad to meet President Deby, and then travel to Goz Beida to visit a refugee camp and site for internally displaced people before flying back to Kinshasa en route to returning to New York City. “We are going in part to explain and reassure the government,” Jones-Parry said of the Khartoum stop. “We want to work with the government of Sudan” regarding the U.N. transition force for Darfur Although the Sudanese government has in principle agreed to allow a U.N. transition force to go to Darfur, a specific agreement or dates have not been finalized. Jones-Parry noted that a U.N. force in Darfur would be under a separate mandate from U.N. troops currently in southern Sudan, but that one headquarters would maintain both from Khartoum. Asked by S.P.A. whether the troops would be interchangeable within mandates, Jones-Parry indicated that there would be some sharing of provisions, but exchanges of troops within the country would depend on the U.N. member state contributing the troops.
