Khartoum, Sudan – Sudan on Wednesday endorsed a U.N. resolution to send 26,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, raising hopes for a force that could for the first time provide real protection to civilians in one of the world’s most embattled regions.
If fully deployed, the troops would be the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping operation. Also, under the U.N. resolution passed Tuesday, the troops would be under orders to prevent attacks against civilians.
Attack helicopters expected to be sent in would give the troops a major edge in moving quickly across the large territory – about the size of France – to stop attacks by Arab janjaweed militias on villages.
Four years of warfare in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and driven some 2.5 million others from their homes. The conflict began when ethnic African rebels launched an insurgency, complaining of discrimination by the Arab government in Khartoum.
The government is accused of responding by unleashing the janjaweed, a militia blamed for widespread killings, rapes and other atrocities against ethnic African civilians. Khartoum denies the claims.
An African Union force of 7,000 troops on the ground has been too small and too poorly equipped to stop the bloodshed.
President Omar al-Bashir had resisted for months a push to send U.N. peacekeepers. But Sudan agreed in June to a compromise deal for the African Union to deploy jointly with the U.N. in a “hybrid force” to end the violence.
Acceptance of the new mission marked a major turnaround for Khartoum. Al-Bashir said last year he viewed U.N. blue helmets as a neocolonial force and would personally lead the resistance against them if they deployed.
