Assistance from NATO and the European Union to airlift additional African Union (AU) peacekeepers into Sudan's troubled Darfur region will help expand the African-led peacekeeping mission there in a timely fashion, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday.

Welcoming the promises made by NATO and the EU, which he has been strongly advocating for the past six months or more, Annan said in a statement that the pledges would help to ensure the timely expansion of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).

He looked forward to the provision of additional practical support and he urged donor countries to make good on the pledges they gave at the conference which he co-chaired with African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, late last month, the statement said.

Annan also welcomed Friday's resumption of the negotiations in Abuja, Nigeria, between the government of Sudan and the two Darfur rebel groups -- the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement -- on a political settlement of the Darfur conflict, the statement said.

Since lasting security in Darfur could only be based on a negotiated resolution of the conflict, "he urges all parties to make full use of these talks, under the able mediation of AU Special Envoy Salim Ahmed Salim, so that an early political settlement to the conflict may be concluded," said the statement.

The African Union currently has some 2,300 truce monitors in Darfur, where a conflict between the government and rebels erupted in February 2003. The AU, however, has not expanded the mission's operation zone to the entire region because of lack of resources and logistical equipment.

Source: Xinhua