US not sure of UN Darfur force resolution this month
Feb 21, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — The United States acknowledged it may not meet its goal of securing a resolution on a UN peacekeeping force for Sudan’s Darfur region while president of the Security Council this month.
President George W. Bush and other US officials have pushed for a UN move to strengthen a beleaguered African Union force in Darfur, where up to 300,000 people have died over three years of what Washington calls genocide.
But with seven days to go in the US stewardship of the Security Council, deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, “I can’t promise you that there’s going to be a resolution introduced in the next week.
“I can say that whether we’re the president or not of the Security Council, the United States will push to marshal international efforts in support of peace in Darfur,” Ereli told reporters.
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday Washington had begun circulating elements a draft resolution to deploy UN peacekeepers to Darfur, scene of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Bolton said Arab and African members of the Council had urged waiting until the AU decided to give its consent next month but he replied, “We want to try and do what we can to get a resolution … by February 28.”
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week said the process was being held up by the lack of a formal request for help from the African Union, which has 7,000 troops in Darfur and should form the core of the new contingent.
But US officials said they were also awaiting the report from a UN assessment team that is in Sudan looking at logistical needs for the peacekeeping operation.
“They are dragging their feet and we’re getting a little impatient,” said one senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ereli called on the assessment team to speed its work. “There’s an urgency to the matter,” he said. “People are dying in Darfur and we need to act to stop it.”
He said the United States was working closely with the African Union, NATO and United Nations but added, “When specific actions will be taken as part of this effort is a little bit difficult to say right now.”
The African Union force, deployed in 2004, has been plagued by poor funding and inadequate resources to contain the bloodshed in Sudan’s troubled western region where rebels are battling government-backed militia.
Bush said Friday that ending the violence in Darfur would probably require double the number of peacekeepers there now, led by the United Nations with strong NATO support.
The UN Security Council earlier this month approved contingency planning for UN peacekeepers to take over from the AU force in Darfur. But Khartoum has opposed a UN deployment, despite strong pressure from Western governments.
(ST/AFP)