The UN Security Council will recommend that the world body fund
a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission for Darfur, after
receiving assurances it would be controlled by the UN, envoys said
Sunday.
After months of talks, threats and negotiations, Khartoum agreed
to at least 20,000 troops and police for Darfur, but had said that
most soldiers should come from Africa and command and control would
be under the AU.
The United Nations was however reluctant to fund a mission where
it did not have overall control.
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"Command and control processes will be those of the United
Nations," said British envoy Emyr Jones Parry. "And that is
necessary if indeed this operation is to be funded from the
peacekeeping budget of the United Nations," he added.
South African ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said the Security
Council would be recommending that the general assembly fund the
force, which may entail 20-25,000 troops and police.
"We expect that this will happen within the month," he told
reporters after two hours of talks with Sudanese President Omar
Hassan al-Bashir during a visit to Khartoum Sunday.
Darfur rebels said the Council should not be fooled by promises
from Khartoum officials.
Since a peace deal last year signed by only one of three
negotiating rebel factions, the insurgents have split into more
than a dozen different movements, hindering a joint AU-UN push to
reenergize a peace process.
Law and order has collapsed in Darfur with almost daily ambushes
on aid convoys, while a struggling AU peacekeeping force has also
come under attack, losing equipment and dozens of vehicles.
The Security Council has not yet ruled out the threat of UN
sanctions on Sudan, and diplomats said there had been discussions
about imposing a no-fly zone in Darfur and an arms embargo on the
entire country.
(China Daily via agencies June 18, 2007)
