The UK on 7 October asked the UN Security Council to authorise preparations for a possible UN peacekeeping mission to Sudan, reported the London-based Financial Times. The move came in response to the security deal agreed by Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) on 24 September. Norwegian officials at the UN have suggested that observers should be sent to the country to monitor the tentative peace, but France said in early October that the international community should not rush the process. Khartoum and the SPLA returned to the negotiating table on 6 October in an attempt to reach a final, permanent peace deal.