UN extends peacekeeping mission in S. Sudan

Mar 24, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Sudan to monitor a peace deal ending a 21-year civil war and authorized planning for the expected extension of the U.N. force’s operations to conflict-wracked Darfur.

The resolution adopted by the council also urged the U.N. force “to make full use of its current mandate and capabilities” on rebels from Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army and other armed groups who have been attacking civilians and committing human rights abuses in Sudan.

The top U.N. envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, warned Tuesday that much of Sudan is in trouble and the international community is still not acting fast enough. The violence in Darfur is getting worse, the LRA has terrorized the south, and new violence could engulf the east unless the Security Council helps push for a peace deal, he said.

A year ago, the Security Council voted to send 10,700 U.N. peacekeepers to monitor a January 2005 peace agreement between Sudan’s mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south, in which some 2 million people died. More than 7,000 peacekeepers are currently deployed, and the resolution adopted by the council extends the U.N. force’s mandate until Sept. 24, “with the intention to renew it for further periods.”

A separate 7,000-strong force from the African Union has been trying to prevent the three-year conflict in Darfur from escalating. An estimated 180,000 people have died, mainly of hunger and disease, and some 2 million have been displaced since rebels from Darfur’s ethnic African population revolted, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and decades of neglect.

(ST/AP)