Western countries put forward a milder draft resolution on the Darfur conflict.
Security Council approves 26,000 hybrid African Union-UN force for the region.
“Genocide is a crime against humanity as a whole, not just against it’s immediate targets. It therefore falls on the world at large to act.”
ekaxuf4,
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Meanwhile, groups who were not part of the Darfur peace agreement have adopted a joint position ahead of the peace talks, an official said on Wednesday.
The joint declaration was signed in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday by the Justice and Equality Movement, National Democratic Alliance and two factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement.
Further sanctions
Gone also is a threat of future sanctions but Gordon Brown, Britain‘s prime minister, warned on Tuesday that “if any party blocks progress and the killings continue, I and others will redouble our efforts to impose further sanctions”.
He said on a visit to the UN headquarters in New York: “The plan for Darfur from now on is to achieve a ceasefire, including an end to aerial bombings of civilians; drive forward peace talks … and, as peace is established, offer to begin to invest in recovery and reconstruction.”
The UN resolution will authorise up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,432 civilian police and calls on member states to finalise their contributions to the new force within 30 days.
The new UN-AU Mission in Darfur, or Unamid, will enhance the ill-equipped 7,000 African Union troops currently in the region.
Rape, looting, murder and government bombardment drove millions from their homes in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region.
The rebels have now split into a dozen groups, many fighting each other.