Nato, the alliance created in the cold war to protect western Europe from the Soviet Union, is set to go to Africa to provide logistical help for the stricken Sudanese province of Darfur.

The move follows a suggestion by Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers last week in Vilnius, Lithuania. Yesterday a formal request from the African Union arrived at Nato's Brussels headquarters and Nato ambassadors approved the beginning of talks on how to provide aid.