U.N. Moves To Speed Darfur Peace Force

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Tuesday pressing Sudan to cooperate with the United Nations as it prepares to take over peacekeeping in Darfur from an underfunded African Union force.

The resolution, passed unanimously, also threatens "strong and effective measures" — diplomatic language for sanctions — against anyone who stands in the way of a May 5 peace agreement signed by the Sudanese government and Darfur's main rebel group.

With the document, council members are trying to persuade Sudan to drop its resistance to the U.N. taking command from the African Union for peacekeeping in Darfur. They would also strengthen the AU force until the United Nations takes control.

"Now the work begins," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. "The Secretary General has to do his work, asking member nations to contribute troops, equipment and money."

Also Tuesday, seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested at the Embassy of Sudan while protesting conditions in the nation's Darfur region.

"We will not tolerate genocide," said Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., the caucus chairman. "We are saying to Sudan this has got to stop."

The seven were taken away in Secret Service cars after blocking the entrance to an embassy. They were released a short time later after paying $50 fines.

The African Union mission, underfunded and poorly equipped, has been unable to end the suffering in Darfur, where fighting between rebels and government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed has killed nearly 200,000 people since 2003. The violence has continued despite the peace deal.

The resolution came a day after the African Union agreed to transfer authority for its 7,300-member peacekeeping force in Darfur to the United Nations by the end of September or earlier if the U.N. is ready.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called the resolution a "very positive development" and demanded that Sudan abide by it.

"I think the government of Sudan would find itself in a very difficult position if it didn't cooperate with this transition," he said.

According to the document, the council demands that an assessment team deploy to Sudan within a week to prepare for the United Nations to take control of an African Union-led peacekeeping mission now in Darfur.

The Security Council also asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to give it recommendations a week after the assessment team returns on the possible makeup of the new U.N. force, as well as projected costs.

"Although there still are some trouble clouds on the horizon with rebel groups continuing to recruit refugees across the border in Chad, the unusual unanimous support for the resolution at the Security Council lays the groundwork for the creation of a 'blue helmet' force that can stop the violence," said Falk

Sudan's government, which had blocked the team for months, has sent mixed signals recently about whether it would now allow the mission because the peace deal had gone through.

On Monday, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said direct U.N.-Sudanese talks would be necessary before any U.N. force could be deployed.

He also said the peace agreement "rendered the issue of the transfer of AU mission to the U.N. no longer relevant."

Sudan's position was supported by council members China, Russia and Qatar, which stressed that the mission could not go ahead unless Sudan agrees to it. They had initially opposed some elements of the resolution but backed it after the African Union expressed its support.

"For the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping operations in the Darfur region, the agreement and cooperation of the Sudanese government must be obtained," China's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Zhang Yishan said. "This is the basic principle and precondition for all peacekeeping operations.

The African Union had demanded that any rebel groups still holding out on the peace deal sign it by May 31. A splinter faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement have resisted pressure to join.

The Security Council urged groups that have not signed the peace agreement to do so immediately. It said it would "consider taking, including in response to a request by the African Union, strong and effective measures ... against an individual or group that violates or attempts to block" the peace deal.

The document asks that Sudan work with the African Union, the U.N. and "international organizations" to accelerate the transition to U.N. control of peacekeepers in Darfur. In the interim, the AU mission will be strengthened, the resolution said.

An earlier draft had explicitly mentioned NATO involvement in preparing for the U.N. to take over peacekeeping in Darfur, but Russia and China were opposed. Western leaders have envisioned a scenario whereby NATO would provide logistics and training to the force.