UN speeds up Sudan peace plan
2006-05-17 08:50
New York - The United Nations security council passed a resolution on Tuesday that would accelerate planning for a UN peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region.
The resolution, passed unanimously, also threatened "strong and effective measures" - diplomatic language for sanctions - against anyone who stood in the way of a May 5 peace agreement signed by the Sudanese government and Darfur's main rebel group.
According to the document, the council demanded that an assessment team deployed to Sudan within a week to prepare for the UN to take control of an African Union-led peacekeeping mission now in Darfur.
Janjaweed killed 200 000 people
That mission, which had been underfunded and poorly equipped, had largely been unable to end the suffering in Darfur, where fighting between the rebels and government-backed militias known as the Janjaweed had killed nearly 200 000 people since 2003.
However, Sudan's government had given conflicting signals about whether it would allow the UN to take over the force now that the peace deal had been signed.
On Monday, Sudanese foreign minister Lam Akol said that direct UN-Sudanese talks would be necessary before any UN force could be deployed.
He also said that the peace agreement "rendered the issue of the transfer of AU mission to the UN no longer relevant".
Peacekeeping operations
Sudan's position was supported by council members; China, Russia and Qatar, which stressed that the mission could not go ahead unless Sudan agreed to it.
They had initially opposed some elements of the resolution, but backed it after the AU expressed its support.
China's deputy UN ambassador Zhang Yishan said: "For the UN to deploy peacekeeping operations in the Darfur region, the agreement and co-operation of the Sudanese government must be obtained.
"This is the basic principle and precondition for all peacekeeping operations."
The resolution came a day after the AU agreed to transfer authority for its 7 300-member peacekeeping force in Darfur to the UN by the end of September, or earlier if the UN was ready.
AU mission 'will be strengthened'
The UN already had a peacekeeping force monitoring a separate peace agreement in south Sudan.
According to the document, Sudan was asked to work with the AU, the UN and "international organisations" - most likely Nato - to accelerate the transition to UN control of peacekeepers in Darfur.
The resolution said that in the interim, the AU mission would be strengthened. The AU had demanded that any rebel groups still holding out on the peace deal must sign it by May 31.
A splinter faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement had resisted pressure to join.
The security council urged groups that had not signed the peace agreement to do so immediately.
- AP