|PIC1|WASHINGTON – President Bush on Monday called for more U.N peacekeepers to help relieve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan and pledged an increase in U.S. food aid to the region.

“Darfur has a chance to begin anew,” said Bush, as he urged the international community to join in the effort. “We cannot keep people fed and healthy without other countries doing their part as well.”

Bush also said he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would go to the United Nations on Tuesday to give support for a new U.N. resolution increasing peacekeepers, and said he was seeking US$225 million in emergency food aid for Darfur from Congress.

His comments came days after the Sudanese government and the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, signed a hopeful peace agreement that could help end a conflict that has killed at least 180,000 people and displaced two million others in three years.

Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary-General, has also made a call for Sudan to grant visas to a U.N. assessment team so it can visit the region and start planning for U.N. peacekeeping forces to take over. Sudan has refused to allow the team to visit.



[Editor's Note: Elaine Spencer reported from Washington DC, USA for this article]



Elaine Spencer
Christian Today Correspondent