Darfur needs U.N. peacekeeping force within two months, official says

Konare met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss implementation of the newly signed Darfur Peace Agreement and called for help to accelerate the process of drafting in U.N troops.

He said help is needed to assist African Union peacekeepers, who have been unable to stop the violence in the western region where a three-year rebellion and counterinsurgency has cost more than 180,000 lives and caused the displacement of 2.5 million people.

British officials said a small NATO delegation could be sent to Darfur to provide leadership, support and airlift capability for African Union troops before the arrival of a U.N. force.

Blair said he supported Konare's call to speed up the arrival of a U.N peacekeeping force, one of the conditions agreed in a U.N. Security Council resolution last week.

"It is necessary for the African Union and the U.N. to work very, very closely together in order to facilitate all of this, because we need a peace agreement and a force sufficiently strong and capable of maintaining the peace so the accord can work," Blair said.

"If we do, it we will save many lives in that part of Africa. If we fail, the consequences are very severe, not just for Sudan and people there, but right across the region."

Blair and Konare issued a joint statement urging Sudan to allow the U.N to enter into the country and plan for the arrival of a peacekeeping force, according to the AP.