Divided UN Security Council debates threat of sanctions against Sudan

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 (AFP) — A divided UN Security Council debated a US draft resolution threatening sanctions against the Sudanese government over a raging conflict in the country’s western Darfur province.

The United States hopes to get a vote on the resolution by the end of the week, US officials said. The text might be revised a fourth time before the vote.

US Ambassador John Danforth declined to say whether the threat of sanctions would remain in the proposed resolution. The last version threatened penalties against Khartoum if security failed to improve in the embattled region within 30 days.

But when asked whether the word “sanctions” might be stricken from the final text, Danforth said: “Clearly, if there is no compliance by the government of Sudan … then the Security Council would have to act, and those actions would have to include sanctions.”

Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali said at least seven of the 15 Security Council countries still have reservations about mentioning sanctions in the resolution, which needs nine votes to pass.

The United States wants the resolution to pass unanimously.

The countries expressing reservations, including Russia and China, argue that the threat of sanctions against Sudan would be counter-productive, and that Khartoum should be given time to make good on its July 3 pledge to rein in pro-government militias attacking Darfur’s African population.

Rebel groups in Sudan’s western Darfur province rose up against Khartoum in February 2003, claiming that the mainly black African region had been ignored by the Arab government.

The uprising prompted a bloody crackdown by Sudanese troops and Janjaweed militias, which have carried out what aid and rights groups have called a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing.

About 1.2 million people have been displaced in the region in 17 months of conflict. Of these 200,000 have fled to neighboring Chad.

The death toll in Darfur is at least 30,000 and could be as high as 50,000, a UN official said.