U.N. Seeks Plan for Peace Force In Sudan

U.S. Pushes Contingency To Stop Violence in Darfur

Demonstrators protest in front of the White House about conditions in Sudan. (By Ron Edmonds -- Associated Press)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 3 -- The U.N. Security Council asked Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday to prepare contingency plans to authorize a peacekeeping force to halt the violence against civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The move was part of a push by the Bush administration to use its month-long presidency of the 15-nation council to reinvigorate peace efforts in Darfur by authorizing a U.N. peacekeeping mission that would be able to stop the killings. Annan has appealed to governments with advanced militaries, primarily the United States and the European powers, to participate in a new peacekeeping mission in Darfur. A senior U.S. official said that the United States is not considering sending U.S. troops but would focus on supporting African troops.

The council's action represented a recognition that the African Union peacekeeping force of 7,000 troops lacks the capacity to stop Sudanese-backed militia that are believed responsible for killing as many as 200,000 civilians and driving millions of people from their homes in the past three years. Those African forces are expected to be placed under the command of a new U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The U.N. special envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, declared last month that diplomatic and peacekeeping efforts had failed to halt the violence and that a U.N. force of about 20,000 peacekeepers would be needed.

John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said it is premature to say what role the United States will play in Darfur. But he said U.S. military planners will work closely with the United Nations to prepare the mission. He said that Friday's request would allow the United Nations to begin approaching other governments to consider participating in the mission, which would ultimately require the approval of the African Union and Sudan. "I think we've made it clear we are going to support this transition," he said.

The latest surge of violence in Darfur began in February 2003, when the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement took up arms against Khartoum, citing discrimination against the region's black tribes. Sudan responded by organizing local militia leaders and launching a scorched-earth campaign against potential civilian supporters of the rebels.

In September 2004, Colin L. Powell, then the U.S. secretary of state, declared that the attacks in Darfur constituted genocide. But senior State Department officials briefing reporters in Washington on Friday declined to say whether they believe genocide is still underway.

"The United States has said that a genocide has occurred in Sudan, and we continue to be concerned about the security environment in Darfur," Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters in Washington.

Frazer said the nature of violence in Darfur has changed since Sudan first began recruiting, equipping and training the region's Arab militia in early 2003, and that rebel groups have contributed to the chaos by repeatedly defying an April 2004 cease-fire and launching attacks against the government and civilians. She also expressed concern about mounting tensions between Sudan and Chad, where hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur are living.

"There isn't large-scale, organized violence taking place today," she said. "What we have are incidents, small attacks, a fraying of the cease-fire."