The African Union (AU) is considering an expansion of its 300 "protection force" to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to about 2000, an AU official confirmed Wednesday.

The plan is now waiting for the approval of the AU's 15-member Peace and Security Council. It has already been discussed in the council, in which Sudan is a member, and only needs to get the nodfrom the council chairman, South African President Thabo Mbeki, the official confirmed.

The "protection force," which got the greenlight at the AU summit in Addis Ababa last month, will mainly be constituted of Nigerian and Rwandan forces. Both countries have pledged to send troops to Darfur.

However, since the number of troops may expand, as Mbeki, who holds the rotating chair of the security body for the month, is expected to endorse the proposal, more soldiers are needed to be dispatched, and Nigerian ministers have already told press it is to deploy 700-1000 troops if asked by the AU.

Western Sudan's Darfur crisis has been described by the United Nations as the world's current worst humanitarian crisis, in whichover 30,000 were killed and one million displaced in a 17-month conflict, bulk of which blamed on an Arab militia called the "Janjaweed."

The UN Security Council on last Friday gave Sudan 30 days to disarm the pro-Khartoum Arab militia, or face international sanctions.

The move has sparked a state-orchestrated protest in Khartoum Wednesday, where about 100,000 took to the streets, and denounced the US backed UN resolution. Protesters rejected foreign intervention in the war-torn Darfur, waving banners saying "No to Foreign Intervention" and "Darfur Is the Graveyard of the US."

Source: Xinhua