Security Council authorizes planning for UN role in Sudan's Darfur
Fri Feb 3, 7:18 PM ET
Agence France - Press"UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council gave the green light for early contingency planning for a UN peacekeeping mission to replace the beleaguered African Union (AU) contingent in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region.
In a statement read by US ambassador John Bolton, the council asked UN chief Kofi Annan "to initiate contingency planning without delay, jointly with the African Union, ... on a range of options for a possible transition from AMIS (the AU mission) to a United Nations operation" in Darfur.
The 7,000-strong AMIS, which was deployed in 2004, has been suffering from poor funding and inadequate resources to contain the escalating bloodshed in Sudan's western region.
Bolton, the council president for the month, said the statement gave the UN secretariat the authority to ask member states to contribute troops to the proposed UN force.
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