New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has urged the international community to help the world body procure helicopters and heavy transport vehicles, which are absolutely essential for the success of its peace mission in Sudan's violence-hit Darfur region.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, he also indicated that several major issues still needed to be sorted out with Sudanese government which had opposed deployment of non African force in Darfur.

The United Nations had been seeking helicopters and heavy transport vehicles to ensure mobility of the force but the countries which have those assets have not come forward to offer them.

Last week, a joint African Union-United Nations formally took over the peacekeeping operation from the ineffective African Union force but things on the ground changed little as it only meant "changing the hats" with no infusion of fresh troops or equipment.

Sudan has demanded that it be allowed disable hybrid force communications during security operations, opposed night flights and delayed allocating land for the UN to have facilities needed for a major operation.

Stressing the need for Sudan to live up to its commitments, Ban said he had spoken to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and planned to meet him the upcoming African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

"I had a long telephone discussion with President Bashir last Saturday, and we agreed to meet again in Addis Ababa. Before that, we will have a high-level consultation to resolve all these pending issues," he said.

Source : PTI