A resolution drafted by the United States and Britain to create a United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan’s Darfur region faces a vote on Thursday, but troops will not be deployed without consent from the Khartoum government.
So far Sudan has refused to allow the UN to replace or absorb an African Union force in Darfur, which has only enough money to exist until its mandate expires on September 30 and has been unable to stop the humanitarian crisis in the lawless west of the country.
The vote on the resolution, which can be delayed until Friday if any of the 15 UN Security Council members request it, calls for up to 22 500 UN troops and police officers and an immediate injection of air, engineering and communications support for the 7 000-member AU force.
Council members predict 13 nations will vote in favour. Qatar, the only Arab member, is expected to vote against, while China, which has close ties to the Sudan government, may abstain.
The resolution is designed to allow planning and recruitment of troops for an eventual handover.
Since the signing of a fragile peace pact in May between the government and two rebel groups, fighting has increased and the Sudanese military is preparing to move 10 000 troops to Darfur against rebels who have refused to sign, raising fears of a full-scale war and thousands of additional deaths.
Two million suffering
”We should bear in mind that two million people are suffering in Darfur, said Ghana’s UN ambassador, Nana Effah-Apenteng, this month’s council president. ”I think the lives of those people should weigh heavily on the minds of everybody, and that is why the council is going ahead.”
Effah-Apenteng said the council is inviting high-level officials from Sudan, the Arab League and the Islamic Conference to a meeting on September 8.
Sudan boycotted a similar council invitation on Monday and its President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has accused the US and Britain of a conspiracy against his North African nation.
The resolution allows UN troops to ”use all necessary means” within its capabilities to protect UN personnel and facilities and prevent attacks and threats against civilians.
It makes clear that the UN force cannot be deployed without the agreement of al-Bashir’s government, although diplomats hope to be able to provide support to the AU force to avoid a collapse.
The UN has about 10 000 troops, mainly from Asia, in southern Sudan to monitor a peace agreement there and is expected initially to move some units to Darfur, along with contingents of African soldiers in the region now.
The document also sets up political, humanitarian, military and civilian police liaison officers in neighbouring Chad, where Sudanese refugees have fled.
The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003, when non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government, claiming the region was being marginalised. In response, the government mobilised Arab militias known as Janjaweed, who have been accused of murder, rape and looting.
The fighting, disease and hunger has killed tens of thousands of people and driven about 2,5-million into squalid camps. In recent months, rebels have carried out banditry and atrocities against civilians.
The Arab League would like a delay in adopting the resolution, promising help to the AU, which so far has not been forthcoming.
But US ambassador John Bolton told reporters, ”Each day that you delay adopting the resolution is a day that pushes out the planning and logistical work that has to take place.”
And he predicted that ”once the resolution is passed, the consent may be forthcoming more rapidly than people think”. — Reuters