Arms exporter Russia opposes swift sanctions against Sudan

MOSCOW, July 27, 2004 (dpa) — A week after it made a controversial delivery of warplanes to Sudan, Russia Wednesday rejected calls for swift international sanctions against the African country following the killing of up to 30,000 people by government-tolerated Arab militias.

Khartoum should be given “a short but sufficient time to fulfil its obligations” to normalise the situation in the troubled Darfur region, Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told the Interfax news agency.

The United States wants to initiate sanctions from August if there is no significant improvement in the security situation and humanitarian crisis.

Russia regards a three-month period as more appropriate.

Russia’s MiG aircraft corporation on July 21 delivered two new MiG-29 fighters to Sudan as part of a twelve-aircraft, 200-million- dollar contract signed in 2001.

The arms shipments run counter to Russia’s commitment as a member of the U.N. Security Council to helping end the civil war afflicting the country.

Khartoum agreed on July 3 to grant international relief workers access to Darfur, punish human rights violators, deploy thousands of police and disarm militias, and allow the African Union to send monitors to observe a ceasefire in the region in western Sudan.