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U.N. to send peacekeepers to Darfur

An "unprecedented" force will try to end the deadly fighting in Sudan.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 1, 2007

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council approved a 26,000-member peacekeeping force for Darfur on Tuesday to try to help end four years of fighting that has killed more than 200,000 people in the vast Sudanese region.

The force - the first joint peacekeeping mission by the African Union and the United Nations - will replace the beleaguered 7,000-member AU force now in Darfur no later than Dec. 31.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon called it a "historic and unprecedented resolution" that will send "a clear and powerful signal" of the United Nations' commitment to help the people of Darfur and the surrounding region "and close this tragic chapter in Sudan's history."

But Ban, who has made Darfur a top priority since taking over as U.N. chief on Jan. 1, stressed that "it is only through a political process that we can achieve a sustainable solution to the conflict."

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said Sudan would discuss the resolution, which "contained many positive elements, and also it went to considerable extent to satisfy our concerns."

He had reacted harshly to earlier versions of the resolution, calling one circulated last week "ugly" and "awful." Britain and France, the key sponsors of the resolution, stripped harsh language in several successive drafts in an attempt to win approval for the resolution.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said the AU-U.N. force will be the largest peacekeeping force in the world and called it "an unprecedented undertaking in scale, complexity and importance."

The conflict in Darfur began in February 2003, when ethnic African tribes rebelled against what they consider decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated government. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed - a charge it denies.

The poorly equipped and underfunded AU force has been unable to stop the fighting, and neither has the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed a year ago by the government and one rebel group.

The United Nations and Western governments have pressed Sudan since November to accept a joint force.

After stalling for months, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed in April to a "heavy support package" to strengthen the AU force, including 3,000 U.N. troops, police and civilian personnel along with aircraft and other equipment.

The resolution authorizes the much larger 26,000-strong hybrid force, which will be called UNAMID and have "a predominantly African character," as Sudan demanded.

The force will have up to 19,555 military personnel, including 360 military observers and liaison officers, a civilian component including up to 3,772 international police, and 19 special police units with up to 2,660 officers.

[Last modified August 1, 2007, 01:38:21]