By DPA
New York : Ending months of a tug-of-war with Sudan, the UN Security Council has authorised the deployment of more than 20,000 UN and African Union troops to the war-torn Darfur region.
Sudan's UN Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem Mohamed said that his government endorses the deployment, which came in the form of a resolution adopted in a 15-0 vote by the council.
"We support this resolution and the rejuvenation of peace talks," the ambassador said. "Sudan will be a partner in this process and we're taken onboard."
The force, once fully deployed, would be the largest-ever UN peacekeeping operation.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the force's approval a "historic and unprecedented" decision to end the conflict, in which more than 300,000 people have been killed and some two million displaced since 2003.
A new round of peace talks is scheduled to begin this weekend in Tanzania. Khartoum and Sudanese rebels signed a Darfur peace agreement in 2005 in Arusha, Nigeria. But its terms have not been fully implemented and a ceasefire is regularly broken.
The UN has imposed an arms embargo and a travel and diplomatic ban on some Sudanese officials for failing to end the Darfur killing. The United States has imposed additional sanctions on oil investments and military operations to pressure the Sudanese government to allow the deployment of the UN force and take steps to end the violence.
"We welcome the United Nations Security Council's unanimous passing of Resolution 1769, reaffirming the international commitment to a lasting political solution and sustained security in Darfur," US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
"We call on the government of Sudan and all rebel groups to immediately cease hostilities in Darfur and pursue a political settlement  under UN and AU leadership  that results in a sustainable peace in Sudan," he added.
Mohamed said Khartoum had agreed to the deployment last November, but all the logistical and military arrangements, details of the command and control system and composition of the force became known and agreed upon only lately.
Khartoum had been accused since November of reneging on its original agreement to the international force, and seeking an Africa-only force instead.
In the end, Sudan and the 15-nation council agreed that the joint operation, a so-called hybrid force, will have "a predominantly African character and the troops should, as far as possible, be sourced from African countries," the adopted resolution said.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad warned the Sudanese government that any attempts to block the deployment would result in the US taking unilateral or multilateral sanctions against it.
"All eyes are on Sudan and we look to the government to do the right thing and pursue the path of peace," Khalilzad said. Mohamed said Khartoum should not be held responsible for any future failure because the deployment is a joint partnership to try to end the conflict in Darfur.
The peacekeeping headquarters should be in place in Darfur before the end of the year, with preparations for setting up the command and control structure to start as early as October.
The force will have 20,000 UN and African Union troops and up to 4,000 police personnel.
Diplomats said the hybrid force involving the UN, AU and Sudan was the first such deployment in UN peacekeeping operations around the world, which had required months of talks and ironing out of differences among the parties.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said the difficult part would be the implementation in coming months.
The council authorised the deployment of the hybrid force under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows use of force by peacekeepers to carry out their mandate.
The force will be deployed for an initial 12 months to support "an early and effective" implementation of the 2005 peace deal. It will incorporate the 7,000 African troops already operating in Darfur.
The resolution provided a timetable for military deployment as well as diplomatic activities aimed at ending the ethnic conflict. It decided that the force would be tasked to protect its own military and civilian personnel.
The force will "prevent the disruption of its implementation and armed attacks, and thus to protect civilians, without prejudice to the responsibility of the government of Sudan."
It called on "parties to the conflict in Darfur to fulfil their international obligations and their commitments under relevant agreements, this resolution and other relevant council resolutions".