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Rudd backs UN, derides Sudanese deployment delays

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave strong backing to the UN on Saturday and accused Sudan's government of obstructing deployment of a UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force to help end the five-year conflict in Darfur.

Rudd also called for the newly expanded UN political mission in Afghanistan to "become fully effective and fully operational as soon as possible" in order to improve civilian and military coordination and confront the increasing violence in the country.

After an hour-long meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Rudd announced that Australia will seek a seat on the UN Security Council for 2013 to 2014 and intends to "run like fury."

Australia last served a two-year term on the UN's most powerful body in 1986 and "I think 30 years is a fair enough old wait between drinks," he said.

He said he expected a difficult race because there are already two candidates for the Western seat -- Finland and Luxembourg -- and there will likely be more.

While many people criticize the UN, Rudd said, "I believe it's important to see the cup as being half full rather than being half empty and for people of good will to support the activities of the United Nations around the world."

As for the secretary-general, Rudd said, "he seems to me to be a fine bloke, a decent fella."

Rudd flew to New York from Washington where he met on Friday with US President George W. Bush. The two leaders played down signs that Rudd has distanced his government from some of the pro-US policies of his immediate predecessor, John Howard. Rudd calls the president "George" and Bush describes Rudd to reporters as a "fine lad" and a "straightforward fella."

Rudd stressed on Saturday that "there are three pillars of Australia's foreign policy, our alliance with the United States, our membership in the United Nations, and our policy of comprehensive engagement in Asia -- and we're prosecuting all three."

He thanked the US administration for arranging more than half a dozen high-level meetings, including with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox.

The Australian leader reserved his sharpest criticism for the Sudanese government, which has demanded that the 26,000-strong AU-UN force for Darfur be comprised almost entirely of African contingents. While there are Chinese engineers, Khartoum has refused to approve troops from Nepal and Thailand.

"I indicated to the secretary-general our concern and frustration, together with that of other states about the continued obstruction being provided by the government of Sudan," he said.

"The government of Sudan generally has not welcomed any more substantial military commitments than that from Western powers. I regard that as unfortunate, but that is the reality," he said.
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