UNITED NATIONS (Reuters):

Britain and the United States introduced a Security Council resolution yesterday to send some 17,000 United Nations peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region, despite opposition from the Khartoum government.

The resolution, initiated by Britain, can be adopted without consent from Sudan, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jackie Sanders said. But in practice troops cannot be deployed until Khartoum agrees.

"I hope that when we negotiate this text, there will be clarity from the Government of Sudan that such an operation, favoured by the African Union and favoured by the Security Council, should take place," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters.