Africans to keep troops in Darfur

The African Union announced Wednesday it will extend the mandate of a peacekeeping force in Darfur through Dec. 31, avoiding a showdown for now over Sudan’s refusal to permit the United Nations to take over the mission and triple its size.

According to the agreement, the United Nations will lend material and logistic support to the mission, which has been hobbled by equipment and cash shortfalls. The Arab League also has agreed to provide funding.

The deal, which was reached on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly session, was a compromise by the African Union, which had hoped to turn over control for peacekeeping in Darfur to the United Nations after Sept. 30, when the mission’s current mandate expires.

But Sudan’s government vehemently opposes the introduction of U.N. forces in Darfur, where fighting between rebels and government-backed militias has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced since 2003. The U.N. has called it the world’s worst humanitarian disaster and the United States has labeled the attacks genocide.

Vatican City

Pope expresses respect for Islam

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday expressed deep respect for Islam and emphasized the belief in one God that unites Muslims and Christians – his latest attempt to defuse the crisis swirling around his recent comments on Islam.

At a weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, before thousands of pilgrims and amid tight security, Benedict went further than he has to date, not only reiterating his regret for the fury that his comments provoked, but also pronouncing his high regard for the faith that those words seemed to attack.

“I hope that my profound respect for the great religions and, in particular, for Muslims … has become clear,” the pope said. It is Muslims, he said, “who worship the one God and with whom we promote peace, liberty, social justice and moral values for the benefit of all humanity.”

That language, some of it taken from the landmark Nostra Aetate, the Vatican’s 1965 document that formally recognized other religions, is reminiscent of the way Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II often characterized Muslims and Jews. John Paul was an enthusiastic promoter of interfaith dialogue, especially among the three monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Benedict, by contrast, has approached dialogue more cautiously.