UN draft resolution allows wide use of force in Darfur

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Reuters) The UN Security Council has readied a resolution to approve a new UN-African Union force of up to some 26,000 troops and police and allow a wide use of force to protect civilians in Darfur.

The draft resolution, circulated to the 15 council members by sponsors Britain, France and Ghana yesterday, is necessary before the United Nations can formally recruit troops to help stop the violence in western Sudan.

Some 200,000 people are estimated to have died in the region and more than 2.1 million uprooted.

The resolution is under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it mandatory. It would allow the mission ''to use all necessary means,'' a euphemism for a use of force, ''in the areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities.'' Force could be used to protect the mission's personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, to ensure the security and freedom of movement of its own personnel and humanitarian workers and ''to protect civilians under threat of physical violence'' as well as to seize or collect arms.

Specifically, the text would authorize up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,400 civilian police. It calls on member states to ''finalize'' their contributions within 90 days of adoption. Sudan has agreed to the troop numbers.

The UN-AU proposals have two options for troops, one with 19,500, composed of 18 infantry battalions and another with 17,605, with 15 infantry battalions. The cost for the first year has been estimated at 2 billion dollar.

The new operation, called the United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur, or UNAMID, would absorb the 7,000 African Union troops now in the region.

The resolution also calls on countries and regional organizations to respond to requests by the African Union, which is rapidly running out of money. The full UN force is not expected to be on the ground until next year.

COMMAND AND CONTROL A touchy point of the new so-called hybrid force is command and control, with some UN troops contributors hesitating until this is clarified.

The draft ''decides that there will be unity of command and control which, in accordance with basic principles of peacekeeping, means a single chain of command, and further decides that command and control structures and backstopping will be provided by the United Nations.'' In practice, UN peacekeeping officials have said the AU would have operational day to day control but the United Nations would step in if it disagreed.

The civilian head of UNAMID is Rodolphe Adada, the Congo Republic's foreign minister, and the military commander is General Martin Agwai of Nigeria.

The resolution also notes with ''strong concern'' ongoing attacks by rebels, the government and pro-government Janjaweed militia on the civilian population and humanitarian workers.

It also speaks for the first time of the ''use of United Nations markings on aircraft used in such attacks'' a reference to a confidential UN report by outside experts in April.

That survey said the Khartoum government was using planes painted white to make them them look like UN aircraft to bomb and carry out surveillance of villages.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in consultation with the African Union, is asked to conclude within 30 days an accord on UN rights and privileges, known as a status-of-forces agreement for the new mission.

The Darfur conflict dates back to early 2003, when non-Arab rebels took up arms, accusing the government of not heeding their plight in the remote, arid region.

Khartoum mobilized Arab militia, known locally as Janjaweed, who raped, plundered and murdered, to quell the revolt. In the past year, rebels have contributed to the violence, splintering into a dozen factions.

REUTERS PDS BST0433