U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday named former General Assembly President Jan Eliasson to be special U.N. envoy for Darfur Eliasson will use diplomatic channels outside the U.N. and work with capitals on Sudan, Annan said at his final press conference before leaving office on December 31 and being replaced by Ban Ki-moon. Eliasson will start at the beginning of the year, said Annan, who spoke at length on the Darfur crisis as he took a number of questions from the media. Annan characterized the ongoing work on the crisis in Darfur between the United Nations and the African Union (AU) as a huge challenge. The weak AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur (AMIS) is spearheading the efforts to protect civilians caught in the crossfire in the western region of Sudan, while the United Nations is working with both the Sudanese government and the AU to provide stronger peacekeeping.
