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UN threatens Sudan with sanctions on Darfur
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-31 09:14

The U.N. Security Council threatened to clamp sanctions on Sudan in 30 days if it does not disarm and prosecute marauding militia in Darfur, under a U.S.-drafted resolution adopted on Friday.

The 13-0 vote, with abstentions from China and Pakistan, came after the United States deleted the provocative word "sanctions" from the resolution and substituted a reference to a provision in the U.N. charter that describes various forms of sanctions.

A newly arrived displaced Sudanese mother arranges her child as she waits for aid distribution at Bredjin camp in eastern Chad July 29, 2004. The U.N. Security Council threatened to clamp sanctions on Sudan in 30 days if it does not disarm and prosecute marauding militia in Darfur, under a U.S.-drafted resolution adopted on July 30. [Reuters]

No specific measures were identified to punish the Sudanese government. The resolution also placed a weapons embargo on armed groups in Darfur.

Whether sanctions ever will be imposed is questionable. The United States and its European allies in the Security Council faced considerable opposition on the resolution and had to reword the sanctions threat to attract enough votes.

However, many humanitarian organizations believe the resolution is far too mild.

"The last thing we wanted to do was lay the groundwork for sanctions," U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said. "But the government of Sudan has left us no choice."

A newly-arrived displaced Sudanese boy from Darfur region waits for aid distribution at the Bredjin camp in eastern Chad July 29, 2004. Aid groups gave out emergency supplies of food, plastic sheeting and blankets to thousands of refugees from Sudan's Darfur region stuck outside an already overcrowded camp in eastern Chad. [Reuters]

"It has done the unthinkable. It has fostered an armed attack on its own civilian population. It has created a humanitarian disaster," he said.

The measure, co-sponsored by Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Chile and Romania, demands that the Sudanese government disarm and prosecute within 30 days militia known as Janjaweed, or the Security Council would consider punitive measures.

At least 30,000 people have died and thousands have been raped in Darfur. Some 1 million villagers have been driven into barren camps and 2 million need food and medicine in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

In Bredjing, Chad on Friday, Darfur refugees poured over the border, waiting patiently to receive sacks of rice, tins of cooking oil and green plastic sheets from aid groups.

The resolution tells the United Nations to plan for peacekeepers, but none are expected soon. The resolution also seeks to augment African Union monitors, who have reported more rapes and abuses in Darfur in the last few weeks.

KHARTOUM SAYS "NO"

Sudan's Information Minister Al-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik rejected what he called the Security Council's "misguided resolution."

Malik said the Security Council had intentionally ignored efforts by Khartoum, the African Union and the Arab League to resolve the crisis. He blamed the crisis on African groups who rebelled last year against Khartoum's policies.

The Janjaweed, largely from Arabic nomadic tribes, then took revenge on African civilians. The resolution's weapons embargo does not pertain to Sudan's government forces, which Washington says are aiding the Janjaweed.

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Elfatih Erwa, accused the Bush administration of using the Darfur crisis to its political advantage in the election campaign. He condemned council members for the resolution and pointed a finger at the U.S. Congress for branding the crisis as genocide.

"The U.S. Congress should be the very last party to speak about genocide, ethnic cleansing and slavery. Let them go back to their history," Erwa said in a 25-minute speech.

A Darfur rebel leader said the resolution was too little, too late. "Thirty days is too long. Villages are burning. People are killing," Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, said in Cairo.

China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Zhang Yishan, said the resolution was too harsh and would be unhelpful.

Pakistan abstained so President Pervez Musharraf, who was invited to Khartoum, would have "time and space" help solve the crisis, said Pakistan's deputy U.N. ambassador, Masood Khalid.

Algeria's ambassador, Abdullah Baali, also speaking on behalf of Angola and Benin, said, "As Africans we believe that whenever and wherever there is a conflict, we have a special duty and a primary responsibility toward our sisters and brothers when they suffer and when their lives are at risk -- more so than anyone else."

Some council members question whether Sudan can control the militia and its own forces, and keep an agreement with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to disarm the Janjaweed. The Sudanese government has described militia as "criminals," although its forces have aided them.

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