United States considers changes but says the threat of sanctions must be clear

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS, July 29, 2004 (AP) — The United States said it would consider changes to overcome opposition to a draft U.N. resolution on Sudan but insisted that the threat of sanctions must be clear if the government fails to stop the violence in the western Darfur region.

Stressing the importance of “starting the clock ticking,” U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said it was crucial to increase pressure on Sudan to rein in pro-government Arab militias who have killed thousands in a brutal campaign against black farmers.

“There is a universal recognition that Darfur is a disaster, that the government of Sudan is culpable and that action on a very tight timeframe is essential,” Danforth said Wednesday after a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the third U.S. draft resolution in less than a week.

Sudan’s U.N. ambassador defended his country and promised to work with other African nations in efforts to stop the violence and resolve what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“We are going to work with the African Union, not because there is a set of sanctions, but because we believe that this is the right path,” Ambassador Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa said.

Security Council members Russia, Pakistan and China have opposed the threat of sanctions, saying the Sudanese government needs more time to act.

Sudan should be given a “short, but adequate amount of time” to bring the situation in Darfur under control, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Egypt, which is not on the Security Council but wields great influence in the Arab world, also said Wednesday it would try to prevent a resolution threatening sanctions from being adopted.

The resolution would call on Sudan to “fulfill its commitments to disarm the Janjaweed militias,” as the Sudanese have promised to do in a July 3 agreement with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

It requires Annan to give the 15-nation Security Council a progress report every 30 days and says the council will consider other measures, “including the imposition of sanctions on the government of Sudan, in the event of noncompliance.”

Danforth said the United States would consider changes suggested by other delegations and present a final version of the text by Thursday. A vote was expected by the end of the week, U.S. officials said.

Among the changes introduced Wednesday were more emphasis on the sovereignty of Sudan and the removal of a call for a special adviser on genocide, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Aid groups, U.N. officials and Western governments have accused the Janjaweed militias of ethnic cleansing in Darfur in a 17-month conflict that has killed 30,000 people, most of them black villagers, and displaced more than 1 million.

U.S. and humanitarian officials have accused the Sudanese government of backing the Janjaweed, a claim the government denies.

Danforth said the threat of sanctions would remain, although he indicated the wording of the resolution could be changed.

“Clearly if there is noncompliance by the government of Sudan … then the Security Council would have to act and that those actions would have to include sanctions,” he told reporters.

He said it wasn’t important what word was used, “so long as it’s clear that it equals sanctions.”

The Darfur conflict stems from long-standing tensions between nomadic Arab tribes and their African neighbors over dwindling water and farmland. Those tensions exploded into violence in February 2003 when two African rebel groups took up arms over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government. The insurgency unleashed brutal revenge by the Arab militias.