US proposes UN sanctions against militia in Darfur
(Adds quotes from State Department, paragraphs 4,6)
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Reuters) – The United States called on Wednesday for the United Nations to impose an arms embargo and travel ban on Darfur’s brutal militias and hinted at further action against the Sudanese government.
But a new U.S.-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution, obtained by Reuters, does not impose sanctions against the Khartoum government, said to help the Janjaweed militias in their scorched earth campaign.
However, the measure says that within 30 days of adoption, the council would determine whether sanctions should be imposed against “any other individuals or groups responsible for the commission of atrocities in Darfur.”
The resolution apparently was timed to coincide with an unusual high-powered visit by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Both are in Sudan this week to press for an end to the atrocities and assistance in getting relief to the victims.
“I would look at it as a companion piece to that; as part of a tapestry, if you would, of diplomatic action taken by the United States and by others in the international community,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington.
The Janjaweed are Arab militias who have driven black African villagers off the land in a campaign of ethnic cleansing, killings, pillaging and rape that human rights groups say is verging on genocide.
THOUSANDS DEAD ALREADY
Some 10,000 to 30,000 people are estimated to have died. One million were forced out of their villages and 2 million are in desperate need of aid, U.N. officials say.
The resolution calls on the Sudan government to stop the attacks in Darfur, disarm the militia and cooperate with relief workers, a provision Ereli said told Khartoum that “it has to back up its recent commitments.”
But a senior State Department official said the Sudanese government did not appreciate the gravity of a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations calls the worst in the world.
“They are in a state of denial. They are in a state of avoidance. They are trying to obfuscate and avoid any consequences,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
The current U.N. Security Council president, Ambassador Lauro Baja of the Philippines, said the draft “sends a strong signal to the government. You cannot do it in an abrupt way.”
But Baja worried about enforcing the sanctions. “There are so many resolutions and committees on arms embargoes but it is the implementation on the ground” that counts,” he said.
Specifically the resolution bans “weapons and ammunitions, military vehicles and equipment and paramilitary equipment” going to the Janjaweed as well as technical military training.
It would establish a Security Council committee to monitor the crisis in Darfur and draw up a list of individuals subject to a travel ban.
Council members expect talks on the draft next week, but say there should be few problems in adopting the resolution. Andrew Natsios, the administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, briefs the council on Friday on his recent trip to Darfur.