Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir welcomes UN support for an African Union force monitoring a widely ignored truce in Sudan’s violent Darfur region, state media reported yesterday.

Sudan had set itself on a path of confrontation with the international community rejecting a UN Security Council resolution to deploy more than 20,000 UN troops to Darfur to replace the AU. But Bashir told the state-owned news agency he would welcome UN support for the AU force, which has struggled to find cash, equipment and experience to stem the violence which has forced 2.5 million from their homes. Foreign Minister Lam Akol said such help would be financial, logistical and technical support.

“This could involve technical personnel, 10 to 20, who can assist the African Union ... under AU command,” he told Reuters yesterday.

“The issue is to strengthen the capacity of the AU to carry out the task of implementing the ....peace deal,” he added.