UN chief urges Security Council to authorize Darfur force

July 16, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the U.N. Security Council on Monday to authorize a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur this week and called for a faster timetable to get troops on the ground and combatants to the peace table.

“We must now push the pace hard” on the military front and in pursuing a political solution to the four-year conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million, he told a news conference.

A draft resolution circulated last week by Britain, France and Ghana that would approve the “hybrid” African Union-United Nations force has run into strong opposition from some council members and Sudan. The draft threatens “further measures” against combatants who obstruct peace efforts and raises other humanitarian and political issues.

South Africa’s U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo called the draft “totally unacceptable,” accusing the sponsors of throwing in everything “the sink, the kitchen.” Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad said the resolution should be “more Sudan friendly” and drop “irrelevant” and “alien” issues like the threat of “other measures,” which usually means sanctions.

Ban sidestepped the differences over the draft, telling reporters “I sincerely hope the Security Council will take the necessary action within this week.”

He cited Sudan’s unconditional acceptance last month of the “hybrid” force, the final phase of a three-stage U.N. plan to beef up the beleaguered 7,000-strong AU force now on the ground in Darfur. The draft resolution would authorized up to 19,555 military personnel, 3,772 international police, and 19 special police units with up to 2,660 officers for the AU-U.N. force.

The U.N. and Western governments had been pressing Sudan since November to accept the plan, but Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir kept delaying action. In April, he agreed to the second phase, a “heavy support package” including 3,000 U.N. troops, police and civilian personnel along with aircraft and other equipment.

The secretary-general said he has been told that several hundred international troops will be ready to deploy to Darfur by October.

“I’ll push for September,” he said.

“Above all we must remember that a peacekeeping force is only a first step,” he said. “It must be accompanied by an enduring political agreement, and any political agreement must in turn be followed by development programs that go to the root causes of the conflict. Otherwise there can be no lasting solutions.”