UN to dispatch experts to monitor sanctions on Sudan

UNITED NATIONS, July 20, 2005 (Xinhua) — A four-member expert panel appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to monitor an arms embargo in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region will be leaving soon for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa where it is to be based, UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Wednesday.

The experts, mandated by Security Council resolution 1591, met on Tuesday with the Council Committee set up by the same resolution to monitor its implementation, and will report back to the 15-member body within 90 days.

The resolution calls on all states to take the necessary measures to prevent the sale or supply of weapons and military equipment to belligerents in the conflict in Darfur, where at least 180,000 people have been killed and some 2 million displaced since fighting broke out in early 2003 between rebels, the government and its allied militias