U.N. Closing its peacekeeping mission in Sudan

The U.N. Security Council on Monday voted close its peacekeeping mission in Sudan by the end of August as a new peacekeeping mission gets underway in South Sudan. Sudan had told the council in May that it no longer saw a need for peacekeepers beyond July 9, the day South Sudan became a nation. The 10,000 strong U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) had been tasked with monitoring the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended decades of war between the north and south and which culminated with South Sudan's declaration of independence on Saturday. The U.N. also has a joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur with the African Union and recently established a separate mission in the disputed border region of Abyei. Additionally, the council authorized the deployment of 7,000 peacekeepers to South Sudan to assist the government there as it sets about nation building.