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Presidents Bush, Mbeki Discuss Darfur
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=734125&l=1009&ctl=153EF00:A6F02AD83191E160999C41FD7265ADBB9574F7DCC14957C0 US, South African
presidents make joint appeal to Sudan to allow expanded international
peacekeeping force in Darfur President Bush and South African
President Thabo Mbeki made a joint appeal to Sudan Friday, urging the
government in Khartoum to allow an expanded international peacekeeping
force into Darfur.  VOA correspondent Jim Malone has details from
Washington.







President Bush, right, meets with South African President Thabo Mbeki
in the Oval Office at the White House in WashingtonAfter meeting at
the White House with President Mbeki, President Bush told reporters
that it is time to step up international efforts to urge Sudan to drop
its objections to an expanded peacekeeping force for Darfur.

"We talked about Darfur and the need for South Africa and the United
States and other nations to work with the Sudanese government to
enable a peacekeeping force to go into that country to facilitate aid
and save lives," said Mr. Bush.  "And I expressed my concerns about
the situation to the president and he shares my concerns that the
situation is dire and now is the time for action."

President Mbeki said the two men also discussed the impact of the
situation in Darfur on neighboring Chad and the Central African
Republic.  Mbeki also expressed the hope that the United Nations would
move quickly on a plan to deploy an expanded peacekeeping force in the
region.

"And hopefully the [U.N.] Security Council will move quickly on that,
to do that larger deployment of troops, it is very urgent, very
necessary," said Mr. Mbeki.  "And we will absolutely do everything to
make sure that from the African side, we remove any obstacles there
might be to such a bigger deployment in Darfur.  It is very
necessary."

Earlier in New York, outgoing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said
Sudanese leaders should be held accountable for failing to protect the
people of Darfur.

The U.N. has been trying to get Sudan to agree to an expanded
peacekeeping force in Darfur operated jointly by the United Nations
and the African Union.

In addition to Darfur, presidents Bush and Mbeki also discussed the
situation in Somalia, U.S. help to fight HIV-AIDS in South Africa and
the stalled negotiations for a new global trade deal.


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