The 2nd UN high-level consultation on Darfur, Sudan, kicked off Friday with representatives from 26 countries, the European Union and the League of Arab States being in attendance.
The meeting, co-chaired by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konar, was designed to mobilize international support behind peace talks next month that will try to end the conflict in the Darfur region.
The meeting is also being held to boost support for the establishment of the hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur (to be known as UNAMID) and for the humanitarian operations on the ground in the arid and impoverished region.
At full deployment, the UNAMID will have some 26,000 troops and police officers, making it the largest peacekeeping operation in the world.
Representatives of the Sudanese government and Darfur's rebel groups are due to have talks in Libya on Oct. 27.
The scheduled talks will be conducted under the auspices of the United Nations and African Union envoys for Darfur, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim.
Ban, who visited the Darfur region in early September, has warned that only a comprehensive solution that deals with all the issues from politics and security to economic development and the environment will solve the conflict in Darfur.
The UN chief also stressed that the peace talks in Libya next month must serve as a "final phase for a final settlement."
Source: Xinhua
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