Saudi says Darfur deal reached

RIYADH (Reuters) - Sudan has signed an agreement with the United Nations and the African Union (AU) on the deployment of African and U.N. forces in Darfur, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia's "King Abdullah received a telephone call from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in which he informed him that the Sudanese government has signed an agreement with the United Nation and the AU that determines the duties and role of the African and U.N. forces in the Darfur region," SPA said.

The agency did not give further details about the agreement, which it said was brokered in Riyadh during the Arab summit held in the Saudi capital late in March.

The United Nations was nearing a deal with Khartoum to add 3,000 U.N. military personnel and equipment to the AU force under a so-called heavy support package but Sudan had objected to the U.N. fielding six attack helicopters.

Sudan's Foreign Minister Lam Akol said earlier on Sunday that Khartoum will take as many more AU troops as needed to stabilize Darfur but would not bow to international pressure to accept a U.N. force in the troubled region.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has pressed Sudanese officials to accept thousands of U.N. peacekeepers to support the world's biggest humanitarian effort there.

Experts estimate about 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled their homes since the Darfur conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against government forces, saying Khartoum had neglected the area.