Russia, China and S. Africa object US, UK sanctions against Sudan
April 18, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Three U.N. Security Council members, including two wielding veto power, on Wednesday voiced opposition to new sanctions being threatened by the United States and Britain to pressure the Sudanese government and rebels to stop fighting in conflict-wracked Darfur.
Russia, China and South Africa said it was the wrong time to raise the possibility of new sanctions because Sudan has just agreed to the first significant deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur and the U.N. and the African Union are intensifying efforts to get the Khartoum government and all rebel groups to the peace table.
Since Russia and China are veto-wielding members of the council, their opposition signals major hurdles for the U.S., Britain and France to overcome to win support for a new sanctions resolution. Other non-permanent council members who generally object to sanctions, like Qatar and Indonesia, are also likely to oppose any new measures against Khartoum.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday he wants to give U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon more time to pursue diplomatic efforts, but that if Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir does not act quickly, the U.S. will take action. He did not say how long he would wait.
Ban, on April 2, had urged the United States and Britain to delay a push for tougher sanctions against Sudan, saying the U.N. needed more time to promote political negotiations and to persuade the country to accept the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.
After five months of stalling, Sudan sent a letter to Ban on Monday giving a green light for the deployment of the U.N.’s so-called “heavy support package” to help the beleaguered 7,000-strong African Union force in Darfur. It includes 2,250 U.N. troops, 750 international police, and logistical and aviation equipment including six helicopter gunships which November initially opposed.
China’s deputy U.N. ambassador Liu Zhenmin told reporters Wednesday that U.N. peacekeeping officials are saying it will take “until the end of the year” to complete the deployment of the heavy support package.
It is the second phase of a U.N. plan to which al-Bashir agreed in November, but then backed off. Ban and AU chief executive Alpha Oumar Konare stressed after two days of talks that ended Tuesday that they want the heavy support package to be quickly followed by deployment of the third and final phase _ a 20,000-strong “hybrid” U.N.-AU force.
Ban and Konare said getting more peacekeepers to Darfur was part of “a two-track approach” that the U.N. and AU are pursing alongside intensified efforts to achieve a political settlement.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Ban “welcomes president Bush’s announcement today that he wants to give the U.N.’s diplomatic efforts a chance to succeed.”
“He is intensively working to expedite the political process and the hybrid operation for Darfur,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bush said he will direct Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to prepare a new U.N. sanctions resolution targeting the Sudanese government and people found to be violating human rights or obstructing peace. The resolution would also impose an expanded embargo on arms sales to Sudan, prohibit Sudan’s government from conducting offensive military flights over Darfur and strengthen the U.S. ability to monitor and report any violations, Bush said. The U.S. would also tighten its sanctions on Sudan.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said new talks on a Security Council sanctions resolution would start on Thursday.
“What is happening in Sudan at the moment is unacceptable, is appalling and is a scandal for the international community,” Blair told reporters.
The U.S. and Britain announced the push for new sanctions after a confidential U.N. report charged that the government of Sudan has been flying arms and heavy military equipment into Darfur in aircraft using U.N. markings in violation of Security Council resolutions. The report first appeared on March 28 in London’s Guardian newspaper and in Wednesday’s New York Times, and was later obtained by The Associated Press.
The U.N. secretary-general expressed “deep concern” at the evidence presented to the council about the flying of arms and heavy weapons into Darfur, Montas said. “He is especially troubled by reports that private or national aircraft have been illegally provided with U.N. markings and used for military purposes.”
Ban expects “full cooperation from the government of Sudan, other governments and all other parties to provide prompt clarification,” she said.
“If further substantiated, such actions would be in clear violation of international law and in contravention of the U.N.’s international status,” Montas said.
The Security Council adopted a resolution in March 2005 authorizing an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals who defy peace efforts.
It imposed sanctions in April 2006 on four men involved in the Darfur conflict, which has now lasted more than four years, claimed 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people. The four, including a former air force commander, a janjaweed chief and two rebel commanders _ are accused of helping orchestrate and carry out killings, rape and other rights abuses in Darfur.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current Security Council president, said the report by a panel monitoring the sanctions against Sudan “underlines why we’re right to maintain the pressure on the government in Khartoum and on the rebels to do what they ought to do.”
He said Britain, the United States and France are finalizing a new sanctions resolution and will then determine when to introduce it.
“Even in the present situation, and especially if people don’t live up to their commitments, it becomes, I think, inevitable that the resolution will go down quickly,” Jones Parry said.
But he said “one of the questions on the timing is whether or not the resolution would prevail in the council.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters “we don’t think it’s the right time” to consider new sanctions, noting Sudan’s acceptance of the heavy support package and expressing hope it will lead to acceptance of the hybrid force.
“It would be very strange,” he said. “After a long while, we have this positive development in the dialogue between the U.N. and Khartoum, and all of a sudden to come back with some sanctions would not be good.”
China’s Liu, when asked about new sanctions, also said “it’s better not to move in that direction.” He cited the “good atmosphere” and a fresh effort to get the government and rebels to the negotiating table.
“I think in a few weeks or a few months there will be some result from the political process,” he said.
“That’s why for China, we believe … (while) all these actions are taken, the council should avoid any sanctions measures for the moment,” said Liu, whose country buys two-thirds of Sudan’s oil.
South Africa’s U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said “it’s very surprising” for the U.S. and Britain to be raising sanctions because Sudan has just accepted the heavy support package which will get peacekeepers into Darfur to protect civilians in camps.
“Sudan has now agreed,” he said. “This is what we’ve said we want, and now we’re talking about sanctions. What is this about?”
(AP)