More troops may be headed for Darfur

African, Arab, European and U.N. leaders agreed in principle Thursday to a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for Sudan’s Darfur region.

The force could be as large as 27,000, including the existing 7,000-member African Union force now there, but the leaders did not set a timetable for deployment, partly because Sudan has concerns, including the question of who would be in charge.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the additional personnel could include as many as 17,000 soldiers and 3,000 police officers.

A U.N. Security Council resolution has called for peacekeepers from the world body to take over for the poorly equipped and underfunded African Union force, which has been unable to quell a conflict that has claimed about 200,000 lives since 2003.

Sudan’s government had opposed the takeover. Thursday’s agreement was announced at a meeting in Ethiopia that brought together senior officials from the African Union, Arab League, European Union, United States, China, Russia, Egypt and France, as well as Sudan and half a dozen other African countries.

The expansion of the existing force will occur in three phases, Annan said.

The African Union’s Peace and Security Council is to meet in the Republic of Congo on Nov. 24, where Sudan is expected to present its final views, he said.

In recent days, pro-government militias have stepped up attacks on villages in Darfur, killing dozens of people, international observers say.

After years of low-level clashes over water and land in the vast, arid Darfur region, rebels from ethnic African tribes took up arms against Sudan’s Arab-dominated central government in 2003.

Khartoum is accused of unleashing the militias, which are accused of atrocities.

The Sudanese army has denied any connection to the militia attacks, saying such claims are politically motivated.

The conflict has destabilized a wide region that includes parts of neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic.