WASHINGTON — The United Nations has moved to take over peace-keeping
operations in Sudan's Darfour province.
"My instructions and my intentions are very clear: which is to move as
far and as fast as we can during the month of February." Security Council
president John Bolton, the U.S. envoy, said on Feb. 3.
The Security Council has authorized planning for the expected takeover
of peace-keeping operations from the African Union. The AU has maintained a
7,000-strong force amid budget difficulties and lack of commitments by
member states, Middle East Newsline reported.
The council asked UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to begin contingency
planning with the African Union. Sudan has not yet approved any UN force for
Darfour, rather expressed interest in a joint rebel-military unit.
The AU has been unable to halt attacks by both Sudanese government
troops and rebels in Darfour. So far, 180,000 people have died in the
rebellion, which began in 2003.
"The United States has said that a genocide has occurred in Sudan," U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said.
Ms. Frazer said rebel forces in Darfour have been divided over whether
to honor the ceasefire. She said Sudan's neighbors, including Libya, have
also been a factor in the continuing violence in Darfour.
U.S. officials said the Bush administration envisions the retention of
the AU force in Darfour. They said the AU would be joined by an unspecified
number of UN troops to help stop the violence, much of it blamed on the
regime-aligned Janjaweed militia.
In January, UN special envoy Jan Pronk recommended a UN force of up to
20,000 troops. Pronk has called for a powerful mobile force that would
remain in Darfour for four years.
"We will wait to see what the military planners at the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations come back with," Assistant Secretary of State
Kirsten Silverberg said. "They will be working with our military planners,
and the U.S. government will be providing assistance to them. So we think
it's important that their planning make the best use, make whatever use they
can, of the existing AU forces that are in Darfour."
Ms. Silverberg said the UN has developed expertise in logistics,
particularly in operations that require heavy equipment. She said the UN
force would help enforce the ceasefire, including the ban on military
flights in Darfour.
"We're working with NATO on issues relating to training and equipment,"
Ms. Silverberg said. "So that's the short-term effort. The longer-term
effort, which is done in consultation with the AU, is to actually put that
under a UN command."
