The new U.N. human rights watchdog agreed Dec. 13 to send a high-level mission to Sudan's Darfur to probe allegations of worsening abuses against civilians. "The decision ... sends a united message that the ongoing violence and killing in Darfur is unacceptable and must stop," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement. The move, seen as a way to increase international pressure on Khartoum to accept UN peacekeepers, coincided with a call from the US Sudan envoy for the country to act within the next week to help the UN bolster African Union (AU) forces.