U.N. OKs 26,000 Darfur Peacekeepers

Security Council Approves Force To Help End Fighting That Has Killed More Than 200,000

(AP)  The U.N. Security Council approved a 26,000-strong 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-strong 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 U.N.'s commitment to help to 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, told reporters the government 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."

"But we will also look for the parties, all of them, to cooperate," he said. "We will judge them by their action, not by their words."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called for "full mobilization of the international community" to ensure a "rapid deployment" of the force "in conditions that allow it to make a difference."

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 African Union 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. Other rebel factions called the deal insufficient, and fighting has continued.

The U.N. and Western governments have pressed Sudan since November to accept a three-stage U.N. plan for 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 calls for its speedy deployment.

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.

The resolution calls on U.N. member states to finalize their contributions to the hybrid force in 30 days, and the U.N. and the AU to agree on the final military composition during the same period.

The final draft has one section under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which deals with threats to peace and security and can be militarily enforced.

It authorizes UNAMID to take "the necessary action" to protect and ensure freedom of movement for its own personnel and humanitarian workers.

It also authorizes the hybrid force to take action to "support early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, and prevent the disruption of its implementation and armed attacks, and thus to protect civilians, without prejudice to the responsibility of the government of Sudan."

But the final resolution dropped Chapter 7 authorization to monitor the presence of arms in Darfur in violation of U.N. resolutions and the peace agreement, which Sudan strongly objected to.

There is "nothing enjoyable in these type of things but we will deliver our commitments," Mohamed, the Sudanese envoy, said when asked about Sudan's reaction to the mandate for the new force.

[wolfchef]

Great idea!..the Un should put those great world humanitarians, the saudies and kuwaitis, in charge of, and have to pay for, this 'peace keeping' force....the USA should provide food and medical products for the 'darfurians', but no $$$$. And let's send all those indian and pakistani MDs', from the UK and Australia to provide the needed medical care...sounds fair to me..

[trenticus-2009]

Nothing like a big 'ol bandaid!

[oakishpines]

there was suum giant squirrels in a quagmire, and some folk came long with soem lil plastic puddles and gave one to everybody, cutting down all the trees and calling them first aid kits, and threatening to hit over the head anyone what stepped foot into the dead swamp or failt to pay the taxes?

send the word over their, the yanks are coming, girls: you'll all be non naked non lazy non ignorant non profane non savages with pritty pink ribbons and best men in gowns and brides maids in tuxes and you'll be whole some and chase all your naighbors nekad kidts through the gardens whacking their assets! congratulations

[pwrslm]

what are they going to do?

Stop the muslims from killing the Christians? Too late, they already killed most of them...

Stop the Muslims from killing the Animalists/nature worshipers? Too late, they already killed most of them.

What good is it going to do? Most of the territory has been stolen by the Islamists, do they intent to give the land back to the dead now?


UN= Useless nuts.

[telecom_1]

Good News! Better late than never.

[noaanhc]

The new meaning of UN - Usually Nothing

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by GretaGreen at 08:14 PM : Jul 31, 2007
+ report abuse

***
I think Drufur needs to be saved from the UN, the EU and all those song and dance liberals. MAN, CANT YOU GUYS JUST LET THIS CASH COW GO?

[gretagreen]

I received a message from SAVE DARFUR today, stating that such authorization was given LAST August also, but no action was taken. The message asked us to contact the UN Secretary and urge him to urge leaders to contribute and participate.

Seems like there's still a long way to go . . .

[gretagreen]

That's great news. I really hope they can help. The people have suffered so much there.

Now, I want peacekeepers in Iraq so the US military can start to pull out.

[ban_islam]

More leftist UN posturing, like in Lebanon where they were supposed to make sure Hezbollah would disarm, but looked the other way while the terrorist group rebuilt their forces and continued to plan their next assault against Israel.

I'm sure the peacekeepers in Sudan will successfully assist the radical muslim regime to continue their genocide against non-muslims. The disease of pacificism, cowardice/weakness is just as destructive as the global islamic jihad against freedom/democracy. Muslims can cheer since at this rate they will take over the world.

Its time we scuttle the UN or eject all undemocratic and Islamic countries and create a league of democratic nations who'll unite on common interests like winning the war against Islam. But I think just the thought of that will make the leftists reach for their security blankets and suck their thumbs.

[xzavierbrown]

the all mighty UN 'resolutions'. it is time to remove the problem. The UN, African Dictators, song and dance liberal profiteers

[soldat44]

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, 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 an attempt to win approval.

Why is the UN concerned about Sudan's reaction to the 'harsh' language. They're the ones sponsoring the genocide.

[soldat44]

It's about time! Hopefully they will have live ammo and clear-cut rules of engagement that allow them to engage the enemy.