Khartoum warns UN Security Council against Darfur sanctions
KHARTOUM, July 17 (AFP) — Sudan warned Saturday that sanctions the UN Security Council is considering imposing on militias in the strife-torn Darfur region would not help end the crisis.
Khartoum has briefed all 15 members of the council on developments in the western region and government efforts to end the humanitarian crisis, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters
He cautioned that “any negative intervention by the Security Council will impair and complicate the relationship between the council and the Sudanese government and will not be conducive to (solving) the issue.”
The council has held its first talks on a draft of the sanctions, but diplomats said opposition to the measure was stronger than had been expected. The United States has vowed to press ahead with council action.
Ismail added that the Security Council has been advised by the African Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League not to intervene in Darfur as long as the African Union is handling the question.
The minister added that the was not worried negotiations with Darfur rebels in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, had stalled.
“We have not expected the negotiations would have wound up during this round but we have expected that it would at least provide the parties with an opportunity to put forward their ideas to enable the mediators to put agenda for coming meetings,” he said.
International efforts to broker a crucial peace between the government and two Darfur rebel groups ran aground Saturday on rebel preconditions rejected by Khartoum.
Ismail said he would set out next Wednesday on a international tour, including France, Belgium and Turkey, to brief those governments on the Darfur crisis and other issues.
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 has also threatened sanctions against Sudan if it fails to end the crisis.