The United Nations Security Council reached broad agreement on a draft resolution to authorise up to 26 000 troops and police for Sudan’s Darfur region, with a vote anticipated this week.
Britain and France distributed a fourth revised text late on Monday to be sent to governments of the 15 council members. A vote could be held as early as Tuesday or Wednesday on a combined or so-called ”hybrid” United Nations-African Union force, diplomats said.
Estimated to cost more than $2-billion in the first year, the operation is an effort to quell violence in Sudan’s western region, where more than 2,1-million people have been driven from their homes and an estimated 200 000 have died over the last four years.
Parts of the resolution are under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which makes it mandatory. This includes taking ”necessary action”, a euphemism for the use of force, in self-defence of UN-AU personnel, to ensure freedom of movement of humanitarian workers as well as to protect civilians ”under threat of violence without prejudice to the government’s responsibilities”.
China’s UN Ambassador Wang Guangya, who had had qualms about the use of force, said now this provision was needed but ”we have to be precise and very careful where it is applied.” He said Beijing generally approved the new text.
Sponsors of the draft, Britain and France, spoke to Sudanese diplomats to explain the draft and get agreement from Khartoum. Deleted from earlier texts was the right to ”seizure and disposal” of illegal arms in violation of earlier agreements. Now the new force is to ”monitor” such weapons.
Specifically, the text would authorise no more than 19 555 military personnel and 6 432 civilian police.
Unamid
The resolution calls on member states to finalise their contributions to the new force, called Unamid or the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur, within 90 days. Unamid would incorporate the under-equipped and under-financed 7 000 Africa Union troops now in Darfur.
Sudan, after months of hesitation, has agreed to the troop numbers but UN officials expect it will take a year to get the force in place, after recruitment, transport, building barracks and finding water. Khartoum also has to consent to allowing individual units into the country.
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 specialised 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 initial operational capability for the new headquarters is now October 31, so that UN members could cover costs for the African Union, as the United States had proposed.
The timetable is then staggered so that the combined force, will be in charge of all operations by December 31.
The new text also eliminates a specific reference to the Janjaweed, a brutal pro-Khartoum militia, blamed for rape, murder and burning villages.
An earlier text deleted a provision on a threat of ”further measures”, a code word for sanctions, against rebels or the government if they obstruct a peace process.
The draft 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 organise a peace conference among myriad rebel groups and the government. – Reuters