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SANTA FE — During a 1996 trip to Sudan, Gov. Bill Richardson wore a certain navy blue blazer, a garment that had proven lucky during more than one overseas rescue mission.

But when Richardson flies to the country's capital, Khartoum, on Saturday, the Brooks Brothers jacket will stay home, worn beyond use.

Instead, Richardson will carry a strip off that blazer and hope his diplomatic skills can help him convince Sudanese leaders to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force for the war-ravaged region called Darfur.

Thousands of Africans injured or displaced by the three-year war between rebels and the government are probably hoping the same thing.

"This is a crisis of incredible proportions - millions of lives in the Darfur region are at risk from war, disease and malnutrition," Richardson said in a statement. "The United States has an opportunity to use leadership and diplomacy to help, and if I can play even a small part in that effort, I am ready to do it."

Members of the Save Darfur Coalition have asked Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations with experience in Sudan, to press the Sudanese to allow the U.N. force in the country. Richardson also will work for a ceasefire in Darfur, his office said.

The coalition says Sudanese armed forces and government-backed militia since 2003 have been fighting two rebel groups in Darfur. The groups have said they want the government to deal with what they call the marginalization and underdevelopment of Darfur.

The government and militia are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and rapes and assaults of thousands of women and girls, the coalition says. President Bush has said the killings constitute genocide. The United States has sent $211 million in aid and humanitarian relief to the country and plans to send another $250 million, according to the White House.

The United Nations Security Council last year approved a measure allowing up to 20,000 peacekeepers to be deployed to the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the situations in Darfur and Lebanon are the United Nations' top priorities. But former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said this week that the United Nations should wait for a ceasefire before proceeding into the region.

Richardson plans to visit Khartoum, the capital, as well as the Darfur region, on the west side of the vast country.

Richardson has been to the nation on the Red Sea several times.

Last fall, he secured the release of detained American journalist Paul Salopek, who was being held on espionage charges.

In 1996, when Richardson was a congressman, he rescued Albuquerque resident John Early, a helicopter pilot for the Red Cross.

During the negotiation over Early's release, a rebel commander tried to get Richardson to give him $2.5 million. Richardson instead got him to agree to five tons of rice, four Toyota Land Cruisers and nine new radios, he wrote in his book "Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life."

When that mission was completed, then-President Bill Clinton called Richardson to congratulate him.

Soon after, in 1997, Richardson was named as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Richardson has maintained his interest in international affairs since becoming governor. He is also widely believed to be planning a run for president in 2008. He is expected to announce his plans this month.