UK and France push U.N. to move on Darfur

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - Britain and France said on Friday they would push for the U.N. Security Council to quickly authorise thousands of troops and police for Darfur and told Khartoum to act fast on the crisis or face more sanctions.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a news conference they would dispatch their foreign ministers to U.N. headquarters in New York to pressure the council's disputing members into reaching an agreement fast.

"We cannot wait another month before the resolution is passed by the United Nations and we cannot wait more months before we see action on the ground that makes the situation better today than it has been for the last few years," Brown told reporters after their first meeting since taking office.

The council is considering a five-page draft resolution sponsored by Britain, France and Ghana that Sudan and several council members say contains too many references to humanitarian and other issues, including a threat of "further measures" if any of the parties "fail to fulfil their commitments or cooperate fully".

Without the resolution, which would authorise up to 26,000 troops and police from the African Union and United Nations, U.N. member states will not commit personnel to Sudan's violent Darfur region.

Estimated to cost more than $2 billion (974 million pounds) in the first year, the operation is an effort to quell violence in the western Sudanese region where more than 2.1 million people have been driven from their homes and an estimated 200,000 have died.

JOINT TRIP

The violence flared after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing Sudan's government of neglecting the remote, arid western region. Khartoum mobilized brutal Janjaweed militias to quell the revolt. Khartoum denies supporting them, and puts the death toll at 9,000.