The U.N. Security Council will move quickly to approve a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan once a final peace deal between the government and southern rebels is signed, a senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday. The adversaries signed three protocols Wednesday on power-sharing and the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan and mediators consulted both sides Thursday to plan the final phase of talks to end Africa's longest-running war. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the parties to reach agreement on the remaining issues, including ceasefire arrangements, ways to implement the accord, and international guarantees for a future comprehensive peace agreement. Annan said the United Nations was ready to contribute to these efforts as well as implementation of the final agreement, a U.N. statement said. He is expected to submit a report to the Security Council next week outlining what contribution the United Nations can make.
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U.S. deputy ambassador Stuart Holliday said once that report is received, council members are expected to welcome the accords signed in Naivasha, Kenya. "This will be followed in the next month or so with another resolution with a view to a peacekeeping mission in Sudan," he said.
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The White House said the Sudan peace agreement "begins the closure of the longest running civil war in sub-Saharan Africa," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We urge the government of Sudan to use the positive momentum created by the peace agreement to reverse the tragic human rights and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Darfur," McClellan said in Nashville, Tenn,. where President Bush was traveling. |