US senators call for immediate deployment of Darfur force
By: Wasil Ali
July 23, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — Two US senators introduced a new resolution to the senate calling for immediate deployment of UN peacekeepers to Darfur amid growing frustration with the delay by the UN Security Council (UNSC) in authorizing the force.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) is working on a resolution authorizing up to 26,000 troops and police in Darfur.
But several council members and Sudan expressed reservations on some parts of the resolution particularly the threat of further measures” if any of the parties “fail to fulfill their commitments or cooperate fully.”
The Sudanese government objected to the mandate allowing the force to “use all necessary means” to protect civilians.
Sudan’s interior Minister Zubeir Bashir Taha reaffirmed his country’s rejection of the mandate saying that “there is no way they [UNSC] can enforce anything on us” in an interview with Reuters.
But the U.S. envoy at the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, said Monday that no compromise was possible on the resolution being adopted under Chapter VII of the UN charter.
Khartoum’s objection to the text of the resolution renewed skepticism on its commitment to allow peacekeepers into Darfur.
“President al-Bashir has continued his long pattern of backpedaling away from his commitments and at times seemed to recant his promise to allow peacekeeping forces in Darfur” Senator Biden said in a press release received by Sudan tribune.
Some analysts suggested that any new resolution may share the same fate as resolution 1706 which Khartoum has flatly rejected. A compromise was reached last year when Sudan agreed to a UN-AU hybrid force.
Professor Eric Reeves, an expert on Sudan affairs, told Sudan Tribune that given the failure of the UNSC in implementing resolution 1706 then Khartoum “is confident that it will be able to eviscerate any new resolution, ensuring that the catastrophic security crisis in Darfur continues indefinitely”.
The U.S. Britain and France met with African bloc at the UNSC to finalize the resolution after some changes were made to the text were made to accommodate the reservations raised.
However Save Darfur Coalition spokesperson Allyn Brooks-LaSure expressed his objection to changes made in the resolution so that it appeals to Sudan.
“The purpose of the resolution should not be to appeal to anyone but it should provide relief and healing to the people of Darfur” he told Sudan Tribune.
The Sudanese government agreed unconditionally to allow the deployment of the hybrid AU-UN peacekeeping force in the Darfur region following talks in Khartoum with a delegation of the UNSC in June.
(ST)