WaPo/AP: Security Council Arrives in Wary Sudan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060501045.html

By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Monday, June 5, 2006; 11:23 PM

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- The U.N. Security Council, visiting Sudan Monday, assured the wary government that the United Nations has no intention of taking over the country and sees Khartoum as a partner in promoting peace.

The government has been very reluctant to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force to take over from the 7,000-strong African Union force in conflict-wracked Darfur that has largely been unable to stop the violence there. Fears of U.N. intervention were fueled last month when a council resolution to spur planning for a handover was adopted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows military action.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, who is leading the council mission, said shortly after the delegation arrived in Khartoum that he recognized some Sudanese "took amiss" the last council resolution, which they had hoped would pay tribute to the government for signing a peace agreement with the largest rebel faction in Darfur.

The United Nations has become increasingly involved in Sudan since November 2003 _ following the eruption of the Darfur conflict. It is running a massive humanitarian operation in the vast western region as well as a 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping operation to monitor the January 2005 peace agreement that ended a separate 21-year civil war in southern Sudan between the government and rebels.