Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have discussed a proposed hybrid peacekeeping force of the UN and the African Union (AU) to be deployed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, Sudan's Akhbaralyoum daily reported on Saturday.

Al-Bashir and Ban had the discussion during a telephone contact Friday evening, the Arabic-language newspaper said.

"The Sudanese president received a telephone call from the UN secretary general at the midnight in which they discussed the third package (of a UN-AU plan on Darfur issue)," the newspaper quoted Presidential Spokesman Mahjoub Fadel as saying.

The third package, which is also called "the hybrid operation," is the final step of a UN-AU plan of deploying their joint peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The plan was worked out by the UN, the AU and the Sudanese government during an expanded high-level meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Nov. 16 last year, but its details should be defined step by step by the three parties.

The main suspending point of the third package is the hybrid force's command, which Khartoum said must remain in the AU's hand while most western observers doubt the UN's willingness to finance a peacekeeping force not controlled by itself.

During the contact, the Sudanese president told the UN chief that the implementation of the second package should not start before the first package was completed.

"Only 55 percent of the light support package had implemented," al-Bashir said, adding that an immediate implementation of the heavy support package would mean "a leap over the phases."

Al-Bashir asked Ban to defend the Addis Ababa agreement and prevent it from being distortion.

According to the report, al-Bashir also invited Ban to visit Sudan in the near future to get acquainted with the true situation in Darfur, and the UN secretary general accepted the invitation.

Source: Xinhua