U.N.-A.U. Hybrid Force in Darfur Must Deploy "Without Delay"
01 August 2007
United States says displaced civilians in Sudan need immediate help
Washington -- U.N. Security Council Resolution 1769, which authorizes the deployment of a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to Sudan’s Darfur region, is a “new and unique form of cooperation” between the two international organizations, U.S. officials said. They called for the immediate deployment of the 26,000-member force to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the area.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, said the unanimous passage of the resolution mandating the hybrid military and police force, to be known as UNAMID, “is the culmination of intense efforts by many in the international community over the past several months. It now must be implemented without delay.” Khalilzad spoke in New York July 31, shortly after the resolution was approved.
More than 200,000 people have died and more than 2 million were forced to flee their homes for refugee camps as a result of the Darfur conflict, and Khalilzad described the human toll as “staggering.” He said those in the camps need immediate help because they are “highly vulnerable to attack, malnutrition, and disease.”
The central objective of UNAMID personnel and their commander is to “do their utmost to protect the civilian population of Darfur,” he said.
“The brutal treatment of innocent civilians in Darfur is unacceptable to the United States. Since 2005, the American people have given more than $2 billion to humanitarian relief and development.”
Resolution 1769 gives UNAMID “full authority under Chapter 7 to use force to prevent armed attacks, to protect civilians, and to prevent any disruption of the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement,” he said.
The operation will draw most of its initial forces from the existing African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and the U.N.’s Light and Heavy Support Packages of assistance to AMIS. Khalilzad said the transfer of authority from AMIS to UNAMID “must occur as soon as possible … because it will combine the resources of the U.N. and the AU under a unified command and control,” and allow additional forces to deploy rapidly to support those already on the ground.
“This should take place well before December 31, 2007, and we call on the U.N. and the AU to take all necessary steps to expedite this transition,” he said.
The ambassador said it is “imperative” that the Sudanese government and rebel forces fully cooperate with the implementation of the resolution and its predecessors in the Security Council, as well as “comply fully” with their requirements under the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement, which prohibits “all attacks, harassment, abduction, intimidation and injury to civilians,” and other actions that would impede humanitarian assistance or civilian protection.
Khalilzad called on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to “provide maximum cooperation with the deployment of the new peacekeeping force,” but warned that Sudan’s noncompliance with the resolution or the Darfur Peace Agreement would result in the “swift adoption of unilateral and multilateral measures” by the United States.
Sudan faces a choice between “the path of cooperation or defiance,” he said, and the international community is looking to Bashir’s government to “do the right thing and pursue the path of peace.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Resolution 1769 opens a “new chapter” in Sudan’s history and paid tribute to those who served in the AMIS force, and “[gave] their all in the service of peace -- some paying the ultimate price.”
“We must now move forward, in all haste, to build on their work. We must put in place the complex and vital peacekeeping operation which you have authorized today,” Ban said, calling on U.N. member states to “provide every support” to the Darfur mission.
State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said August 1 that the United States expects to pay “about a quarter of the costs of the hybrid force as part of our assessed contributions” to the existing AMIS force.
The Bush administration also will work with other NATO members to assess logistical support that can be provided, such as airlifting troops to Darfur, which NATO previously did for AMIS.
“We're also going to make sure that we continue to provide logistical and financial support to AMIS as we move through this transition period,” Casey said.
Soon after Security Council Resolution 1769 was approved, the U.S. Senate passed Resolution 276 on July 31. It calls on President Bush to “work with Congress to ensure robust funding” for the hybrid peacekeeping force, and for its “urgent deployment.”
The U.S. Congress had declared on July 22, 2004, that the atrocities in Darfur constituted genocide.
The full text of Khalilzad’s comments as prepared for delivery is available on the Web site of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
For more information on U.S. policy, see Darfur Humanitarian Emergency.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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