Darfur peace plan hits strong resistance

The US has run into strong resistance in its bid for a Security Council resolution that would give the United Nations immediate control over peacekeepers in Darfur, diplomats said yesterday.

Objections from China, Russia and several African nations have forced the US to strip out much of the most powerful language of the draft, possibly delaying the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the troubled Sudanese region.

The retreat is a blow to US President George Bush, who had announced on Monday that he would seek the new resolution and asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to press for it during a UN visit on Tuesday.

It was part of several new initiatives from Bush to bring an end to the suffering in Darfur, where violence has killed nearly 200,000 people since 2003. Late last week, Darfur’s government and rebels signed a peace deal at last.

A new draft of the US resolution circulated late on Thursday makes several key concessions. For example, it asks only that a UN assessment team inspect the AU force ”with a view to a follow-on United Nations operation in Darfur.”

The draft also asks all parties to the Darfur deal, the United Nations and other organisations “to accelerate transition to a United Nations operation.”

Sudan’s government has previously refused to allow the assessment team into the country, though officials have suggested the peace deal could ease its concerns.

“The expectation continues that we will have a joint planning team on the ground in Darfur as soon as possible,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “We would expect the government of Sudan to cooperate fully and let this team do its work.”

The African Union forces, which number about 7,200, are now low on funds and have largely been ineffective in stopping atrocities and re-establishing security.

According to the UN plan, the force would be bolstered and folded into the command of a UN peacekeeping force monitoring a separate peace deal between Sudan’s largely Muslim north and the Christian and animist south.

China and Russia, two veto-wielding members of the council, oppose that even the new draft is written under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which could make it legally binding and enforceable by sanctions.

The African Union has asked that the council delay voting on the draft until after Monday, when its Peace and Security Council meets to endorse the Darfur peace deal and discuss the possibility of giving the United Nations authority over the AU force.