Brown fast-tracks a deal to put huge UN force in Darfur

12 April 2012

Gordon Brown has secured an international deal to send to Darfur the biggest-ever United Nations peacekeeping force.

He won American and French support for a Security Council resolution that will mobilise action to stop mass killings in the western province of Sudan.

Britain will put £100million toward the cost of sending 19,000 troops to the divided region.

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Gordon Brown meets UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the UN headquarters

The speed with which the agreement was reached means peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur can start this weekend in Tanzania.

The international community has been accused of standing by while militias backed by the Sudanese government in Khartoum launch murderous attacks on the civilian population of Darfur.

Mr Brown told the UN: "The situation in Darfur is the greatest humanitarian disaster the world faces today."

He said more than 200,000 people had been killed, a further two million displaced and four million left reliant on international food aid.

The largely Christian population of Darfur, which is almost the size of France, has been concentrated into camps to escape the Muslim-dominated janjaweed militias.

The first detachments of troops, to be drawn mostly from African countries including Rwanda, could be deployed by October.

The operation is expected to cost £1billion in its first year.

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The Prime Minister has secured an international peace keeping deal for war-torn Darfur

UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon described the resolution as "historic" and urged member states to offer "capable" troops quickly.

Britain may send a small number of soldiers, probably less than 100. Infantry will be drawn mainly from African nations.

The United States is restricting its contribution to transporting troops and helping to pay for the operation which will cost £1billion in the first year.

"We must be clear that if any party blocks progress and the killings continue, I and others will redouble our efforts to impose sanctions," Mr Brown warned.

He announced the deal in a speech at the United Nations on the last day of his first official visit to the United States as Prime Minister.

He used the platform to relaunch an international drive to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals agreed in 2000, saying they were far from being met.

The goals include eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, cutting child deaths and fighting diseases such as HIV/Aids and malaria.

The Prime Minister secured the backing of global leaders including President Bush for a declaration on the importance of tackling poverty, lack of education, major diseases and economic collapse in the world's poorest countries.

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Somali refugees at a camp in Darfur

Mr Bush, along with Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Angela Merkel of Germany, and others, endorsed a commitment to meet what they agreed was a development emergency.

The Prime Minister's visit to the UN, the day after he signalled his determination to put London's relations with the Bush White House on a more formal footing, was another sign he is repositioning British foreign policy.

His willingness to visit the institution was seen as a clear marker that he does not share the Bush administration's hostility to the international body.

It also made clear that Mr Brown wants to pursue multilateral solutions to international problems - involving a number of countries - rather than following Mr Blair's focus on the United States.

His criticism of the lack of progress towards the Millennium Goals will be seen as a thinly-veiled criticism of his predecessor's failure to deliver.

Britain and other western countries had agreed seven years ago to meet the eight development goals by 2015.

Mr Brown said: "We cannot allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just aspirations, and then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolise broken promises.

"To address the worst of poverty we urgently need to summon up the best efforts of humanity. I want to summon into existence the greatest coalition of conscience in pursuit of the greatest of causes."

Before addressing the UN, Mr Brown met former U.S. president Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Foundation is devoted to Third World development.

It is likely they discussed the prospects of Mr Clinton's wife Hillary becoming the next U.S. leader after the 2008 election.

US ambassador at the UN Zalmay Khalilzad called on Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, to provide "maximum co-operation".

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