A delegation of U.N. Security Council ambassadors arrived in Sudan on Sunday to discuss the government's recent agreement to allow a large influx of peacekeepers into the country's Darfur region. The visit came a day after the group met with African Union officials in Ethiopia who assured the delegation that Sudan's decision to allow 19,000 peacekeepers into Darfur as part of a strengthened AU-U.N. force «was unconditional.» The U.N. ambassadors met with Foreign Minister Lam Akol, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Kosti Manibi and several other senior officials in Khartoum Sunday morning, but didn't issue any statements. They were scheduled to meet with President Omar al-Bashir in the afternoon, the Associated Press reported. Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem called the delegation's visit a «victory for Sudan» on Saturday and said the group could use the opportunity «to acquaint itself with ... Sudan's viewpoints on different» political, humanitarian and diplomatic issues, according to the official "SUNA" news agency.
