Home > UN approves Darfur force of up to 26,000
EVELYN LEOPOLD
Reuters
July 31, 2007 at 3:59 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to authorize up to 26,000 troops and police in an effort to stop attacks on millions of displaced civilians in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Expected to cost more than $2-billion in the first year, the combined United Nations-African Union operation aims to quell violence in Darfur, where more than 2.1 million people have been driven into camps and an estimated 200,000 have died over the last four years.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the resolution as "historic" and urged member states to offer "capable" troops quickly.
The resolution, number 1769, invokes Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, under which the United Nations can authorize force. The measure allows the use of force to be used for self defence, to ensure the free movement of humanitarian workers and to protect civilians under attack.
But the resolution, which has been watered down several times, no longer allows the new force to seize and dispose of illegal arms. Now they can only monitor such weapons.
Gone also is a threat of future sanctions, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned on Tuesday that "if any party blocks progress and the killings continue, I and others will redouble our efforts to impose further sanctions."
"The plan for Darfur from now on is to achieve a cease-fire, including an end to aerial bombings of civilians; drive forward peace talks ... and, as peace is established, offer to begin to invest in recovery and reconstruction," he said on a visit to the United Nations.
Britain and France are the main sponsors of the resolution.
Specifically, the text authorizes up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,432 civilian police.
The resolution calls on member states to finalize their contributions to the new force, called UNAMID or the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur, within 30 days. UNAMID would incorporate the under-equipped and under-financed 7,000 African Union troops now in Darfur.
Rape, looting, murder and government bombardment drove millions from their homes in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region. The rebels have now split into a dozen groups, many fighting each other.
Sudan, after months of hesitation, has agreed to the troop numbers, but U.N. officials expect it will take a year to get the force in place. Khartoum also has to agree to allow units from individual countries into Sudan.
Infantry soldiers will be drawn mainly from African nations unless not enough Africans can be recruited. Personnel from elsewhere in the world are expected to be used for specialized engineering and in command headquarters. The United States is restricting its contribution to transporting troops to Darfur and helping to pay for the operation.
The new headquarters should be running by Oct. 31, and U.N. members were urged to cover costs as soon as possible for the under-financed African Union troops.
The timetable is then staggered so the combined force will be in charge of all operations by Dec. 31.
The resolution asks Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report to the council every 30 days on implementation of the resolution and progress on a political settlement. The United Nations and the AU are attempting to organize a peace conference among a myriad of rebel groups and the government.
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5 August 2007, 03:10
defensenews
By TSEGAYE TADESSE, REUTERS, ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Posted 08/02/07 17:16
Five African nations pledged on Aug. 2 to send peacekeepers to a mission in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region that was approved this week by the U.N. Security Council, a top African Union (AU) official said.
Said Djinnit, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, said member states had responded positively during talks on the deployment of up to 26,000 U.N. and AU troops who will absorb a smaller AU force that has failed to quell the violence.
"Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon and Ethiopia have pledged to provide troops for the Darfur operation," Djinnit told reporters at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
South Africa said it would consider sending more troops, in addition to the 97 it already has in Sudan.
"We will give very serious consideration and I am sure positive considerations to increasing our presence," deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad told reporters in the South African capital Pretoria.
Nigeria already has troops in Darfur and Djinnit did not say how many soldiers overall had now been pledged.
Expected to cost more than $2 billion in the first year, the so-called "hybrid" force will assume authority over 7,000 AU soldiers already in Darfur by Dec. 31, but the daunting task of finding enough personnel is expected to take many more months.
Sudan has promised to cooperate with the new mission, which was authorized by the U.N. Security Council on July 31.
Mutref Sediq, Sudan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said the resolution did not meet all Khartoum’s demands.
"But it is reasonable and constitutes a good base for cooperation between the African Union, United Nations and the Sudan government," he told a news conference in Addis Ababa.
The peacekeepers will be able to use force to protect civilians and the world’s biggest aid operation, but the resolution was watered down and no longer allows troops to seize illegal arms. There was also no threat of sanctions if Sudan fails to cooperate.
Rape, looting, murder and government bombardment have driven millions from their homes in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their desert region. International experts say about 200,000 people have been killed.
Sudan puts the death toll at 9,000 and accuses Western media of exaggerating the conflict, which began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms complaining of neglect by Khartoum.
Several European countries have voiced their readiness to send troops. Nigeria said it planned to send a fourth battalion. Senegal said it would send more soldiers if they have a clear right to defend themselves.
The rebels themselves have now split into a dozen groups, many fighting one another. The United Nations and African Union are hosting a meeting in Tanzania from August 3 to try to unite the groups before peace talks with the government.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2942873&C=mideast