Security Council due in Khartoum for talks on Darfur

A Security Council delegation is scheduled to arrive in Khartoum on Monday to discuss the role of the United Nations in resolving the conflict in the volatile western Sudanese region of Darfur. "The Security Council delegation will arrive in Khartoum this afternoon," said Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), on Monday. "Tomorrow, they will start their meetings with government and UN officials." The delegation, led by Ambassador Jones Parry of the United Kingdom, is expected to stress the importance of a full and rapid implementation of the 5 May Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) to end the violence and atrocities in the region. The delegation will also seek the support of the Sudanese government to allow a UN force to take over the peacekeeping mission from 7,000 ill-equipped African Union troops. In its consultations with the Sudanese government, the Security Council would urge the authorities to agree that a UN mission should replace the current AU operation in Darfur "as soon as possible". Parry told reporters in New York that he envisaged a UN force in Darfur parallel to the one monitoring the north-south peace deal, under one unified headquarters based in the capital, Khartoum, but with divisional headquarters running separate operations, under different mandates. Sudan recently agreed to allow a UN military planning team to go to Darfur, but has stopped short of giving its consent to a new UN force. "This [planning] mission will be leaving in the next few days and will assemble in Addis [Ababa, Ethiopia] in the first part of next week. It will then travel on to Khartoum as a joint team from UN-AU team," Hédi Annabi, the assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, told reporters after briefing the Council on Friday. The planning team would "look into the requirements of AMIS [the AU Mission in Sudan] to enable that force to perform the additional tasks foreseen for AMIS under the Darfur Peace Agreement," he said. "The mission will also conduct an assessment of the requirements of the transition to a UN peace operation" should such an operation be established. Meanwhile, the international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Security Council on Saturday to secure Sudan's consent for a UN force in Darfur with a mandate to ensure the protection of the region’s civilians. "The need for a strong international force in Darfur to deter attacks on civilians and secure the Chad-Sudan border is greater than ever," said Peter Takirambudde, HRW’s Africa director. "A robust force to protect civilians could help end three years of war crimes in Darfur, but only if it's given the means to do so. The Security Council must mandate a UN force to use 'all necessary means' to protect civilians." A larger, more mobile and vigorous international force in Darfur was essential to re-establishing security in rural areas on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border and to assisting the return of displaced persons, HRW said. The Security Council's 10-day trip begins Monday and includes Khartoum, southern Sudan, refugee camps in Darfur and Chad, as well as African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. The trip ends in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.