Security Council expected to vote Sudan sanctions

April 24, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — China’s UN envoy Wang Guangya, the council’s president for April, said the US side wanted a vote on its draft to coincide with adoption of a Tanzanian non-binding statement reiterating the council’s full support for African Union-mediated inter-Sudanese peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.

Musa Hilal top list of suspected leaders of the Janjaweed.

“My concern is that the draft proposed by the United States might in a way have some negative implications for the negotiations in Abuja,” Wang said.

The African Union (AU) and the international community have set a Sunday deadline for the Sudanese rival sides to wrap up their talks in Abuja.

“Regardless we are moving ahead,” Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the US UN mission said. “I would hope they don’t veto it.”

“I think we’re hopeful that it will pass,” said a US official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Asked whether China or Russia would block the measure, he said, “I haven’t heard veto. I haven’t heard the ‘v’ word.”

A UN diplomat here meanwhile provided some background on the four Sudanese officials named in the resolution.

– Sheikh Musa Hilal, a paramount chief of the Jalul tribe in north Darfur, was described as “a notorious leader of the (Khartoum-backed) Janjaweed (Arab) militia and as such responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Darfur.”

His militia has been blamed for pillaging, rape, and scorching of villages, and directly contributed to the Darfur mayhem.

Hilal was jailed in 1997 for killing 17 people in Darfur, the diplomat said.

– Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan, a former commander of the Western Military Region for the Sudanese Air Force, had direct operational command of Sudanese government forces in Darfur from 2004 to this year and coordinated operations between the Janjaweed and government forces. He was also responsible for supplying arms to the region.

– Adam Yacub Shant, a commander of Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), violated a ceasefire agreement in July 2005 when he ordered SLA soldiers to attack government forces which resulted in the deaths of three government soldiers.

– Gabril Abdul Kareem Badr, a commander for the National Movement for Reform and Development, kidnapped African Union peacekeeping personnel last October and a month later threatened to shoot down an AU helicopter.

The Security Council vote will come more than a year after it authorized sanctions against those held responsible for the bloodshed in Darfur, where rebels and government-backed militias have been battling since February 2003.

Washington has branded as genocide the violence in Sudan’s western region. The conflict has left up to 300,000 people dead from violence or disease and more than 2.4 million homeless.

Meanwhile Wang said the council’s three African members — Congo, Ghana and Tanzania — have prepared a non-binding statement voicing concern about the deteriorating relations between Sudan and its neighbor Chad.

The text urged the two countries to abide by their obligations under a February 8 agreement signed in Libya and urged them to start implementing agreed confidence-building measures.

Chad broke off diplomatic relations with Sudan 10 days ago, accusing it of arming rebels who tried to storm the capital N’Djamena in an attack that killed 400 people.

Washington has also expressed frustration at delays in proposals to bolster security in Darfur by replacing an AU peacekeeping contingent with a larger UN force and giving it greater NATO support.

NATO currently provides air transport for the 7,000-strong AU force. Foreign ministers of the 26-member alliance were expected to discuss a larger logistical role at their meeting in Sofia on Thursday and Friday.

But deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli played down expectations of progress at the talks to be attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her NATO counterparts.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir is strongly opposed to the UN mission.

(ST)