UN Security Council mulling Sudan sanctions
UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (AFP) — The UN Security Council was mulling a US resolution to impose sanctions on the militias in Sudan’s Darfur region, with opposition strong despite the scope of the humanitarian tragedy.
The council held its first talks on the draft last week and diplomats said that opposition to the measure was stronger than had been expected, even though the United States vowed to press ahead with council action within days.
“At least all the Europeans and the Americans are united,” said a Security Council diplomat who asked not to be named. “That’s worth noting.”
But sources said Pakistan and Algeria had led calls for the Sudanese government to first be given a chance to make good on pledges to rein in the militias behind the bloodshed and chaos in the giant western region.
The council will hold more talks on the resolution Wednesday, a day before a new monitoring mechanism set up with UN help will examine Sudan’s progress in carrying out its vows, diplomats said.
During a recent visit by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Sudanese President Omar al-Behsir promised to disarm the so-called Janjaweed militias, start political talks with rebels and improve access for aid workers.
Failure to agree on how to handle Sudan could lead to a split rather than unanimous vote on the resolution, diplomats from several council nations told AFP.
More than 10,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur and at least 1.2 million have been driven from their homes, many of them to squalid camps in Chad, since a revolt against the Arab-dominated government broke out among indigenous ethnic minorities in February 2003.
In retaliation, the pro-government Arab Janjaweed militias have carried out what UN officials say is a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans.
The European Union on Monday threatened sanctions against Sudan if it fails to end the crisis.
“We want to see in the coming weeks whether the Sudanese government is serious when it says that it wants to stop the bloodletting and the fighting,” said Foreign Minister Bernard Bot of current EU president the Netherlands.
“We are waiting for the signals in the coming days, and in the light of the situation we will then consider whether we will have to increase pressure on the government and impose sanctions,” he said after an EU meeting in Brussels.
The draft resolution would slap an arms and travel embargo on the Janjaweed militia and leaves open the possibility of further sanctions against the government in Khartoum after 30 days.
But European nations here have since said they are unwilling to wait that long to see that Khartoum is making good on its promises.
The Europeans want to ensure that Sudan is “not doing just the minimum,” one council diplomat said.
The latest internal update from the UN office in Sudan, obtained by AFP on Monday, reported progress “in all areas of humanitarian access” in the region.
But Jan Egeland, the UN’s chief of emergency relief, has warned that time is running out to save the lives of the 1.2 million people displaced by the conflict.