UN Council plans for peacekeepers in Sudan

UNITED NATIONS, June 3 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council intends to give a green light for creating a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan to enforce agreements that would end Africa’s longest-running civil war.

In a draft resolution, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is asked to plan the size, structure and mandate of the operation and report back to the council for approval.

The measure, introduced by Britain on Wednesday, is expected to be adopted within a week.

Sudan’s civil war has killed an estimated 2 million people through warfare, famine and disease since 1983 when the Khartoum government tried to impose Islamic Sharia law on the animist and Christian south.

The government and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels signed agreements on May 26 on how to share power and manage three disputed areas.

But both sides still need to conclude a comprehensive peace agreement and cease-fire and decide how to implement it, a process that may take another two months. Once that final agreement is completed and the Security Council approves the U.N. operation, the resolution says Annan should take “steps to deploy a mission to verify compliance” with the accords.

The peace talks, conducted in Kenya, did not cover a separate conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, which has developed into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The council’s draft resolution welcomes deployment of an African Union-led monitoring mission in Darfur but did not suggest any council action there.

U.N. human rights officials have accused Arab militia, backed by the Sudanese military, of driving black Africans from their villages, pillaging, killing and raping. The Khartoum government has denied the charges involvement.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization warned that epidemics and death, especially among children, were on the rise in Darfur and called for more funds for relief agencies, who may now enter Darfur.