President Omar al-Bashir made clear in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulated March 9 that he did not agree to a U.N. proposal to send more than 3,000 U.N. military, police and civilian personnel, along with substantial aviation and logistic assets to beef up the 7,000-strong AU force.

But the 13-page annex to the letter is a point-by-point response that details the Sudanese government's insistence on maintaining control over the deployment of all international troops and police -- and on keeping the U.N. in a subordinate role to the AU.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 17, 2007
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