US Senate calls for NATO involvement in Darfur peacekeeping

Mar 3, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — Late last night the U.S. Senate passed Senator Joe Biden’s (D-DE) resolution urging the White House to take swift and decisive action to stop the genocide in Darfur.

The resolution, which was cosponsored by Sam Brownback (R-KS) urges President Bush to advocate sending NATO troops to work in support of the African Union forces and that NATO enforce a no-fly zone in Darfur.

It also calls upon the UN Security Council to approve a peace enforcement mission that is well trained, well equipped, with adequate troop strength.

“The U.S. must lead international efforts to stop the killing of innocent men, women and children in Darfur,” said Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. “By systematically abusing its own people, the Sudanese government has ceded its sovereignty, and the plight of the victims is now the concern of every civilized nation in the world.”

Since the terror began in early 2004, as many as 400,000 Sudanese people have lost their lives and more than 2 million displaced by Khartoum’s systematic campaign to eliminate the non-Arab and African tribal groups of Darfur.

The security situation in Darfur has gotten so bad in recent weeks that the United Nations and international aid agencies have been forced to scale back relief operations in certain areas.

“Time is of the essence. We must not watch from a distance as the conflict in Darfur spins further out of control,” said Biden, who visited refugee camps in Chad last summer and met with displaced Darfurians. “This resolution will not end the violence in Darfur, but it lets President Bush know that the Congress strongly favors swift and decisive action from the White House.”

On February 3, the United Nations Security Council announced a plan to send UN troops to help takeover for the overworked and under-equipped African Union-led mission. However, it could be a year before a UN mission fully deploys. And it is unclear what type of mandate or troop strength the Security Council will authorize.

The NATO mission Biden is proposing would support and strengthen the AU mission until the U.N. is ready to take over.

The Biden-Brownback resolution was also cosponsored by Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Barack Obama (D-IL). It passed the Senate with unanimous support.

(ST)