US to proceed with unilateral sanctions against Sudan: envoy
By Maggie Farley
May 27, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — As the United States threatens to proceed with unilateral sanctions, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has put his personal diplomatic clout on the line to end the bloodshed in Darfur, demanding a cease-fire and fresh peace talks in a letter to Sudan’s president, U.S. and Sudanese diplomats said Saturday.
The letter is also meant to signal a last chance for Bashir to stop attacks by Arab militias widely believed to be supported by the government. If Sudan continues to stall or backtrack on agreements, diplomats here say, even its strongest allies in the Security Council will have little excuse to block strong sanctions.
“The ball is in Sudan’s court now, and they don’t have a lot of time to agree,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. “Our patience is running out.”
Ban handed the letter directly to Sudan’s ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, for relay to Bashir.
It coincides with a broader push by the U.N.’s special envoys for Sudan to end the violence between government-allied militias and rebel groups in the Darfur region who want more autonomy. At least 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million have been displaced since fighting broke out in 2003.
The violence has touched the peacekeeping troops sent to protect Darfur’s civilians as well. Gunmen — perhaps burglars — fatally shot a U.N. staffer Saturday in his home in Darfur. It was the first casualty there for the U.N., which deployed 180 staff members in December to back an overwhelmed African Union force. The AU force, which has about 7,000 soldiers in Darfur, has lost 19 peacekeepers since deploying to the troubled region nearly three years ago.
Ambassador Abdalhaleem confirmed that Bashir had received the letter Friday and had a “cordial conversation” with Ban the same day, inviting the secretary-general to visit Darfur to see the situation for himself.
“It is a good letter,” Abdalhaleem said in an interview Saturday. “We have no disagreement with anything in that letter.”
Abdalhaleem said the government would commit to a unilateral cease-fire as soon as rebels agree to peace talks.
“We are ready for a cease-fire today,” he said. “We have no conditions for that.”
But the government in Khartoum has failed to live up to agreements, and attacks on civilians and aid workers have continued in Darfur.
Frustrated by the reversals, Ban says in the letter that any party that continues to use military force will be held accountable. That could mean personally targeted sanctions or even an indictment by the International Criminal Court, which already has charged a senior Sudanese official and a militia leader with crimes against humanity.
If Ban’s diplomatic effort falters, the U.S. and Britain are standing by with a draft resolution that would impose sanctions on Sudanese officials, militia commanders and rebel leaders who undermine the peace process. The proposed measures include an arms embargo and financial and travel bans on specific individuals.
Khalilzad said the Security Council would give the U.N. peace process room, as Ban has asked. But, he said, the United States would strengthen its unilateral sanctions against Sudan “in coming days.”
In the letter, Ban says he expected action from Khartoum and rebel groups in four areas: a cease-fire by all parties, disarmament of the militias known as the janjaweed, entry and help for an advance team of peacekeepers and equipment known as the “heavy support package,” and speedy access and support for humanitarian workers.
It also announces a new outline for a peace process to be carried out by the U.N. envoys for Sudan, former Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Salim Ahmed Salim. The steps include working to unite the disparate rebel groups on a common platform, and getting all parties to relaunch formal peace talks this summer.
Rebel groups have rejected the peace accord reached under intense pressure last year; many say it was imposed on them and doesn’t represent their position. Indeed, the original movement against the government has splintered into more than a dozen groups with different demands.
“There is a mushrooming of factions and their demands,” said Abdalhaleem, the Sudanese ambassador. “We want them to come with one voice.”
The Sudanese government denies any links to the janjaweed, and says therefore that it is difficult to disarm the groups.
“Disarming militias, as the U.S. has found in Iraq, is a difficult task,” Abdalhaleem said. “The government is doing its best.”
Khartoum has agreed in principle to accept a joint U.N.-African Union force and equipment, the “light and heavy support packages” that are supposed to pave the way for a full contingent of 22,000 peacekeepers.
But on Saturday, Bashir again rejected the notion of a larger force, despite agreeing to it late last year.
The stuttering progress makes diplomats, aid workers and some Security Council members skeptical about the positive words coming from Khartoum.
“Although the government gives the big diplomatic ‘yes’ … what we get on the ground is a lot of bureaucratic ‘nos,’ ” said Lauren Landis, the State Department’s senior representative to Sudan, who was in the country this month. “No to visas, no to leases of land, no to equipment — the backhoes are stuck in customs.”
A week ago, aircraft believed to belong to the government bombed the site in northern Darfur where a unification conference sponsored by the African Union and the U.N. was to be held. There have been almost two dozen such incidents.
The government denied any involvement.
(Los Angeles Times)