The European Union (EU) leaders on Friday mounted pressure on Sudan to allow the entrance of an international peacekeeping forces into its conflict-plagued region of Darfur.

The EU "strongly urged the Government of Sudan to give its unequivocal consent to the implementation of the U.N. support package for the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) in its entirety," said the leaders in a communique after wrapping up a two-day summit in Brussels.

The African Union now has a 7,800-strong force in Sudan's western region of Darfur, known as AMIS, which suffers lack of funds, equipment and experience.

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Aug. 31, calling for the deployment of more than 20,000 international peacekeepers, which is due to gradually turn the AU mission into a hybrid U.N.-AU operation.

But the Sudanese government has rejected the mission transfer, saying that it amounts to a violation of Sudan's sovereignty, and an effort by the West to colonize the African oil producing country.

The Sudanese government should, in consultation with the United Nations and the African Union, pave the way for the implementation without delay, the EU leaders said.

Source: Xinhua