Britain to Look at Boosting Darfur Force

Britain is preparing to consider new ways of getting extra troops into Darfur to protect civilians if the Sudanese government continues to reject a UN force, Hilary Benn, the development secretary, said yesterday.

After a one-day trip to Darfur and Khartoum, where he met the president, Omar al-Bashir, Mr Benn said the Sudanese leader "remains resolutely opposed" to UN resolution 1706, which calls for 20,000 troops to replace the current contingent of 7,000 from the African Union, which is due to leave at the end of December.

Sudan claims a UN force would amount to a "recolonisation" of the country as it would be mandated to reform Sudan's police and judiciary. Mr Benn said: "He acknowledged the resolution would help in funding more troops but he didn't indicate any movement on the principle."

Mr Benn's visit coincides with a six-day tour of Sudan by Andrew Natsios, George Bush's new special envoy. The EU commission president, José Manuel Barroso, saw Mr Bashir a fortnight ago and a senior Sudanese presidential adviser was in Paris last week. The flurry of diplomatic activity is expected to lead to discussions in the UN security council on how to break the impasse. "Once we get beyond the end of this month we'll have to consider alternatives" to the 1706 resolution, Mr Benn said. Some speculate on the possibility of a UN mandate for African Union troops or an "AU-Plus" plan of an increase in AU troops funded by western states.

Sudan is looking to Europe to broker a compromise. It was angered by Mr Bush's decision to toughen sanctions on Sudan on Friday, the day that Mr Natsios left for Khartoum. The White House renewed a freeze on Sudanese government assets held in the US and added a ban on oil and petrochemical transactions.

Mr Natsios saw the vice president, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, who called for dialogue rather than confrontation, but is unlikely to get a meeting with Mr Bashir.

If the AU force leaves in December, up to two million displaced people will be left unprotected. A surge in fighting in the past three months has forced 50,000 more villagers to flee and humanitarian agencies have had to cut aid to rural areas.