[Editor's Note: This is Part I of a two part article. For Part II see "The Struggle Over How the Media Frames Its Presentation of the Darfur Conflict"]

 Some Background

The question before the Security Council on Thursday, July 31 was whether or not to renew the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). This joint (hybrid) peacekeeping mission combines UN and African Union (AU) efforts to work toward finding a way to bring peace to the Darfur conflict in Sudan.

 UNAMID’s renewal falls under Article 7 of the UN charter. To be a peacekeeping operation, there needs to be a peace agreement, or the potential for such an agreement along with a means of encouraging the  contending forces to support the mission and a resolution of the conflict.

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