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SUDAN: UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO SPEED UP DARFUR PEACE MISSION March 25, 2006
Apunyu Bonny
(SomaliNet) The UN Security Council has called upon its Secretary General, Kofi Annan to come up with a range of options to speed up preparations for UN peacekeepers to be deployed to Darfur in western Sudan within one month.
The council voted unanimously to speed up this move. Mean while, the African Union had been planning to keep its peacekeepers in Darfur until September and then hand the operation over to the UN.
Sudan's government however, has objected to the proposed handover. Consequently, the Security Council is asking Mr. Annan to liaise with the African Union, Khartoum and the rebels to come up with a plan.
"It's a real step forward in building peace across the entire country," Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said in a statement. The resolution also extended the mandate of a separate UN peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan, which was due to expire on Friday.
Despite the presence of at least 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, the situation is still worse. More than 100,000 people have been killed amidst the persistent conflicts in the region. Also millions of people are living in overcrowded camps.
UN officials have said they will not send in troops to Darfur without the approval of the Sudanese government. But Khartoum says it does not want UN troops in Darfur until a peace agreement is reached in talks taking place in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
"There is a sense of urgency; I think from everybody, that there are people who are dying, that there is still violence in Darfur. That needs to be stopped." The head of UN peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno said.