The Security Council has dropped a direct appeal to the Sudanese government to launch quickly a joint United Nations-African Union force to help restore security in conflict-wracked Darfur, approving instead a watered-down statement on Friday demanding that all parties ”meet their international obligations”.
The United States had drafted a presidential statement welcoming an AU-UN agreement on Thursday on a highly mobile, robust ”hybrid” force for Darfur that would also help protect civilians. It urged the Sudanese government ”to cooperate fully in … the expeditious start-up and implementation of the UN-AU hybrid operation”.
But after lengthy discussions among council experts and ambassadors — some opposed to making any demands on Sudan — the council eliminated all references to the Sudanese government, which has not given a green light for the deployment of the hybrid force.
The statement approved late on Friday even eliminated the welcome for the 39-page UN-AU report, which proposes tripling the number of peacekeepers now in Darfur with a hybrid force of at least 23 000 soldiers and police allowed to launch pre-emptive attacks to stop violence.
The presidential statement, read at a formal meeting by US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the current council president, instead welcomed ”the transmission” of the report outlining the AU-UN recommendations on the mandate and structure of the force and ongoing international efforts to support peace efforts in Darfur.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Sudan’s UN ambassador, Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem, on Friday morning and handed him a copy of the report. Abdelhaleem told reporters later that his government would study it.
‘Good statement’
Despite the changes, Khalilzad called it ”a good statement that not only welcomed this development but also called on the parties concerned, including the government of Sudan to observe its obligations”.
He then read the key sentence from the statement, which says: ”The Security Council further demands that all parties meet their international obligations; support the political process; end violence against civilians and attacks on peacekeepers; and facilitate humanitarian relief.”
The four-year conflict between ethnic African rebels and pro-government Janjaweed militia in the vast western Darfur region has killed more than 200 000 people and displaced 2,5-million Darfurians. A beleaguered, 7 000-strong AU force has been unable to stop the fighting, and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has stalled implementation of the hybrid force — the last part of a three-phase UN plan to back up the African troops.
In Friday’s statement, the council called for ”full implementation without delay” of the first two phases — a light support package including UN police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support, and a heavy support package with 3 000 UN troops, police and civilian personnel along with six attack helicopters and other equipment.
The council noted that the AU-UN agreement ”is an important development in the comprehensive approach to the peace process in Darfur”. That process also includes ”re-energising the peace process, strengthening the ceasefire, and implementing the three-phase approach to peacekeeping”, it said.
Demand
When Khalilzad read the presidential statement the first time, it included a demand for all parties to ”abide by the ceasefire, including the cessation of aerial bombardment”. The US had proposed this language but it had been dropped in the final text and Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, could be seen on in-house television getting up, apparently to protest.
After about 15 minutes, Khalilzad called a second council meeting and read the correct statement.
Council diplomats said he was handed the wrong statement to read. ”It was late in the day, Friday, administration under a degree of stress — but you know, we’re all human beings. It happens,” Khalilzad said afterwards.
”We remain concerned about ongoing aerial bombardment of targets in Darfur,” the US ambassador said. ”We remain concerned about the fact that the Janjaweed have not been disarmed yet.” — Sapa-AP