Time not right for tougher sanctions against Sudan – UN’s Ban
April 2, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the United States and Britain on Monday to hold off on a push for tougher sanctions against Sudan, saying he needed more time to persuade the country to accept the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.
“My position is that, before we talk about sanctions, let me have some more political space to deal with this dialogue” with the Sudanese government, Ban told reporters after returning from a tour in the Middle East.
The United Nations and Sudan agreed in November on a plan for the incremental deployment of a joint AU-U.N. force of 20,000 peacekeepers, but al-Bashir has since backed off the deal, saying he would only allow a larger AU force with technical and logistical support from the United Nations.
At a meeting in Saudi Arabia last week, Ban and al-Bashir agreed to work on defining the size of the African Union force and the participation of the United Nations in the peacekeeping mission. Ban did not win al-Bashir’s acceptance of the deployment of U.N. troops.
Even so, Ban said the talks in Addis Ababa next week would focus on an initiative to send more than 3,000 U.N. troops, police and other personnel to Darfur — indicating the U.N. chief held out hope of persuading the Sudanese leader to change his stance.
Al-Bashir’s refusal to accept U.N. troops — along with the relentless bloodshed in Darfur — have prompted the United States and Britain to call for tougher action against Sudan, where four years of conflict have killed 200,000 people and chased more than 2.5 million people from their homes.
Al-Bashir’s government is accused of backing Arab janjaweed militiamen blamed for widespread atrocities against ethnic African civilians.
On Sunday, gunmen killed five AU peacekeepers guarding a “water point” along the border between Darfur and Chad — the deadliest attack on the 7,000-member force since its deployment three years ago.
Ban deplored the attack and said it “really illustrates the necessity and urgency of dispatching hybrid peacekeepers to Darfur.”
“That is what I am going to work on,” he said.
On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington was considering the “next diplomatic steps we might take because quite clearly to this point the diplomatic pressure that we, as well as others, have tried to apply — it hasn’t been working.”
Last month, the U.S. government said it was preparing to impose new economic sanctions on Sudanese companies and block international sanctions involving U.S. dollars. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United Nations should also consider tougher action against Sudan.
Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on the U.N. to consider imposing a no-fly zone over Darfur. The measure would apparently be directed at stopping the Sudanese government’s aerial bombardment of rebel positions, attacks the United Nations says have killed civilians.
Experts say the few economic sanctions imposed on Sudan by the United States and European Union have had little effect. The country has so far avoided harsh U.N. sanctions with help from China, a Sudan ally and veto-wielding member of the Security Council.
McCormack said Washington held out hope that Ban had privately received indications of flexibility during his talks with al-Bashir. He said Washington’s envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, would ask for details on the talks during a meeting with Ban later Monday.
Ban said he felt the U.N. was making progress with the Sudanese government, citing an agreement reached last week to ease humanitarian access to Darfur’s refugees.
He said he and AU chief executive Alpha Oumar Konare would meet at the United Nations on April 16-17 for an “extensive, in-depth consultation” on how to move forward in Darfur, based on the recommendations from the experts’ meeting in Ethiopia.
(AP)