The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has announced that the United Nations is assembling contingency plans to deploy a quick-reaction force to take over from the struggling African Union peacekeepers in the troubled province of Darfur in Sudan.

|TOP|“We have started contingency planning to be ready if and when the decision is taken for us to go in," Annan told reporters.

Annan said the UN force, if requested, would be mobile and ideally have tactical air support, reported AFP.

The UN general secretary’s announcement was made as the African Union said it may be forced to transfer its peacekeeping mission in Darfur to the UN if it fails to receive enough donations from the international community to cover its huge financial deficit.

A report presented to the Peace and Security Council of the African Union concluded that the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) would not continue longer than March if a huge cash injection was not found, with the report concluding that the operation might have to be handed over to the UN.

The AU said in December 2005 that it needed over 130 million dollars in new contributions to be able to continue its AMIS operations.

|QUOTE|Annan noted that the last donors conference for the AU mission took place in May 2005 before adding that it was now time for a “follow-up meeting to see what donors are going to do to assist the AU in this difficult task”.

Annan said that if the UN were to send a peacekeeping force into Darfur, it would field “a different force structure”, adding that given the size of Darfur, any UN force going into the conflict-torn country “has to be mobile, has to have tactical air support, must have helicopters and the ability to respond very quickly”.

A UN peacekeeping force would also “need very sophisticated equipment, (and) logistical support” with the emphasis “on air mobility”, said Annan.

He said that the UN would look to world governments with such capability to help the UN in its Darfur mission if it received the mandate.

"The international community cannot allow that situation to go on unaddressed and in all likelihood will have to look at other options, including possibly the UN working with the AU to redress the situation," he added.

According to Annan, AU Commission chairman, Aplha Omar Konare, expressed the pan-African Union’s desire to keep the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur for another nine to 12 months “provided the donor community gives them the necessary resources for logistical support”.