France’s FM says un Darfur deployment offers hope
July 31, 2007 (PARIS) — French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday that the UN Security Council’s decision to authorise the deployment of a joint African Union-UN force in Darfur offered “great hope”.
Kouchner added that “the adoption of the resolution must not cause us to relax our efforts. On the contrary. We must do everything to ensure a rapid deployment … in conditions that allow us to make a difference on the ground.”
He noted that cooperation with the Sudan government would be necessary.
The Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorise the deployment of a joint African Union-UN force in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, a move immediately hailed as “historic and unprecedented” by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
The resolution mandated the 26,000-strong “hybrid” force, to be known as UNAMID, to take over peacekeeping in Darfur from 7,000 ill-equipped AU troops.
The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African tribes rebelled against what they consider decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.
(AFP)