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NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who leaves office in less than two weeks, is making a last-ditch effort to convince Sudan to accept a much stronger peacekeeping force in Darfur.
Annan told the UN Security Council he was naming former General Assembly President Jan Eliasson
as a special envoy to Sudan, to serve during the transition to incoming UN leader Ban Ki Moon.
Annan was also sending a top aide, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, to Khartoum to pin down the Government's position on a UN proposal to build up the African Union mission already in Darfur with substantial UN resources in a proposed "hybrid" force, he told Ban and council members at an informal meeting.
- REUTERS