The UN Security Council has authorised up to 26,000 troops and police for Darfur.
Expected to cost more than $2bn in the first year, the combined UN-African Union operation aims to quell violence in Darfur, where more than 2.1m people have been driven into camps and an estimated 200,000 have died over the last four years.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the resolution as 'historic' and urged member states to offer 'capable' troops quickly.
The resolution invokes Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, under which the UN can authorize force.
The measure allows the use of force to be used for self defence, to ensure the free movement of humanitarian workers and to protect civilians under attack.
But the resolution, which has been watered down several times, no longer allows the new force to seize and dispose of illegal arms. Now they can only monitor such weapons.
Gone also is a threat of future sanctions, but British prime minister Gordon Brown warned that 'if any party blocks progress and the killings continue, I and others will redouble our efforts to impose further sanctions.'
Britain and France are the main sponsors of the resolution.
Specifically, the text authorizes up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,432 civilian police.
The resolution calls on member states to finalise their contributions to the new force, called UNAMID or the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur, within 30 days.
UNAMID would incorporate the under-equipped and under-financed 7,000 African Union troops now in Darfur.
Rape, looting, murder and government bombardment drove millions from their homes in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting their arid region. The rebels have now split into a dozen groups, many fighting each other.
Sudan, after months of hesitation, has agreed to the troop numbers, but UN officials expect it will take a year to get the force in place. Khartoum also has to agree to allow units from individual countries into Sudan.
