The UN Security Council held closed consultations Tuesday by
receiving a briefing from Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno on recent initiatives by UN chief
Kofi Annan on Darfur.
Guehenno told reporters after he left the council that a week of
intense diplomatic activity was underway, including the meeting in
the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday that the United
Nations announced on Monday.
"In recent weeks ... the facts are that we have seen an
intensification of such military operations, that needs to stop,"
he said.
"That emphasis on a political process, and as the basis of a
political process on an immediate ceasefire, that's something
fundamental. This is an issue that was raised by several members of
the council and we at the United Nations believe strongly that it
is a top priority today," said the top UN peacekeeping
official.
He said Monday's high-level meeting in Ethiopia involving
Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi and senior
Sudanese officials, had focused on UN support to the African Union
mission in Darfur, and further discussions this week would follow
up.
Annan and the African Union have invited Russia, China, the
United States, France and Britain -- the permanent members of the
Security Council -- as well as Congo, Gabon, Egypt, the European
Union and the Arab League to attend a high-level meeting on the
situation in the Darfur region of Sudan, the United Nations
announced Monday.
Guehenno stressed that a real ceasefire in Darfur is as
important as the deployment of a force there, and warned that the
intensification of military activity needs to stop.
There is a need for "a solid political process, backed by a
solid peacekeeping force," he added.
The council adopted a resolution in late August to send up to a
20,000-strong UN force to Sudan's Darfur region to take over from
the underfunded 7,800 AU forces in Darfur.
But the Sudanese government has been adamantly opposed to the
proposed UN deployment, saying beefing up the current AU forces
would be the most suitable solution to the Darfur issue.
(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2006)
