Sudan agrees to U.N. force in Darfur
Khartoum gave its OK to 3,000 troops, but past pacts have been reneged upon in the four-year war.
UNITED NATIONS - Sudan agreed yesterday to let 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers deploy in Darfur with attack helicopters, opening the door to the first significant U.N. force to help beleaguered African Union soldiers, who have been unable to halt the region's four-year war.
After five months of stalling, the government in Khartoum called for a speedy deployment and hinted it could approve an even larger U.N. force that has been demanded by the U.N. Security Council, the United States and others.
But experts were cautious about chances for creating that 20,000-strong force, noting Sudan's leaders had reversed course previously after announcing vague agreements for action in Darfur.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called yesterday's agreement "a very positive sign" and said the United Nations and the African Union would "move quickly" to assemble the 3,000 peacekeepers and for a deal allowing the larger force.
The United Nations has no standing army, and Ban is urging U.N. member states to contribute troops and police quickly for Darfur, but it will likely take months before a U.N. contingent is on the ground.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, whose Arab-dominated government has been accused of aiding Arab militias that are fighting ethnic blacks in Darfur, had long opposed a U.N. force to help the weakly armed 7,000-soldier African Union peacekeeping mission.
But he came under increasing pressure from the United States, the European Union, some Arab and African countries, and, most recently, China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports and sells Khartoum weapons and military aircraft.
U.S. diplomats and U.N. officials said they would remain cautious until U.N. peacekeepers were on the ground in Sudan's vast western province, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes since the conflict began in 2003.
"We'll see whether they've agreed when they actually start to deploy," acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff told reporters.
The State Department said the announcement omitted several key provisions for the U.N. force's effective operation: It left the force's command and control unspecified and limited the participation of non-African troops.
"While it is a partial step forward, it certainly does not meet all the requirements," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
Darfur's war began when groups based in black farming communities rebelled, accusing Khartoum of discriminating in favor of nomadic Arab tribes in disputes over land and water. The AU force arrived in 2004 but was too weak to impose calm, even having seven of its own men killed this month.
After long wrangling, Sudan accepted the U.N. plan to send 3,000 U.N. soldiers, police officers and others along with logistical and aviation equipment, including six attack helicopters that the Sudanese government previously rejected.
"The government has agreed upon the entire 'heavy assistance package' by the United Nations to the African force in Darfur," Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told journalists in Khartoum.
Sudan's agreement came after China applied pressure on its trading partner. During a visit in February, Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Sudan to give the United Nations a bigger role in Darfur, and China's assistant foreign minister called last week for Sudan to accept U.N. peacekeepers.
China itself was being pressured by critics who accused the communist regime, which is one of five veto-holding nations on the Security Council, of protecting Sudan from strong U.N. action. Western activists used China's hosting of the 2008 Olympics to embarrass its government by branding the Games the "Genocide Olympics."
Actress Mia Farrow, a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency who was one of those urging Olympics sponsors to pressure China over Darfur, said the link to the Games had an effect.
"We are amazed by Beijing's reaction," Farrow told the Associated Press by phone from the United States. "It shows that one thing is more important to the Chinese than their access to Sudan's oil, and that's the success of their Olympic Games."