The United Nations Security Council has authorised preparations for the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, asks the Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to prepare a range of options for a UN operation in Darfur.
UN officials say there is an urgent need to send a peacekeeping force to the region, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in continuing violence.
The African Union had been planning to keep its 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur until September and then hand the operation over to the UN.
However the proposed handover has been opposed by the Sudanese government, which blames rebels for the violence.
The head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno said that the UN would need Sudan's co-operation.
