UK opposes sanctions on Sudan over Darfur: minister

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sep 20, 2004 (PANA) — Imposing UN sanctions against Sudan to coerce the government in Khartoum to protect the population of the troubled Darfur region could backfire with the government withdrawing its cooperation, a British minister said here Monday.

Visiting Foreign Office minister, Chris Mullin told a press conference that the situation was starting to improve in the
troubled Darfur region.

“As long as we have got the cooperation of the Sudanese
government…then there wouldn’t be a need for sanctions,” he
observed.

“It (the sanctions) must remain an option but…there is a danger that the albeit limited cooperation that Sudanese government has offered so far would be withdrawn if the international community failed to acknowledge the small things that have changed for the better,” Mullin said.

Last Saturday, the UN Security Council passed a US-drafted
resolution on the Darfur crisis with 11 member states in support
while China, Russia, Algeria and Pakistan abstained.

The resolution demands Sudan to stabilise the situation in the
troubled western Darfur region and cooperate fully in expanding
the African Union (AU) monitoring mission in Darfur.

Sponsors of the resolution have repeatedly stated that the threat
of sanctions will not be automatically implemented.

“I think the situation is improving and I think very slowly and
very reluctantly in some cases the Sudanese government is now
aware of the scale of the crisis and is now beginning to
cooperate,” Mullin cited.

“They have allowed in large numbers of people from the
humanitarian agencies which they weren’t doing originally and
they are now bringing in police from other parts of the country.”

He said there was a lot of improvement in the general security
and humanitarian assistance situation in the region.

“There has been some progress…and we in the international
community stand ready to help but we must have the cooperation of
all the parties concerned”.

We need to expand the AU monitoring mission. We need to encourage
the government to accept the commission proposed by the United
Nations. Certainly one big improvement in recent months has been
the fact that the international aid community had now been given
access to the affected areas but there is still a very huge gap
to bridge if we are to restore some kind of normality to Darfur,”
the minister said.

The minister declined to mention that genocide occurred in
Darfur, only saying that “serious crimes” have been committed. “I don’t take the view that it is (genocide) or it isn’t,” he said.

He said the British government was “very disappointed” about the failure of the peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, and that they hope to see the talks resumed soon.

The official Sudan news agency (SUNA) quoted British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw on Monday as saying his country opposes
sanctions against Sudan.

According to the agency, Straw telephoned Chinese Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing expressing his appreciation for the active
role China has played in the Darfur crisis, and said Britain,
too, does not support the sanctions.