Powell justifies dropping ‘sanctions’ in UN’s Darfur resolution
KUWAIT, July 29 (AFP) — US Secretary of State Colin Powell defended a decision to replace the word “sanctions” with “measures” in a UN Security Council draft resolution on Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region, saying the United States wanted maximum support on the vote.
“The word measures does not exclude anything that might be a measure. It seemed to be a word that is more acceptable to a broader number of members of the Security Council,” he told reporters accompanying him on an official visit to Kuwait.
The United States and Britain earlier presented the UN Security Council with a new draft of a resolution on Darfur, providing for sanctions “in the event of noncompliance.” The council said it would vote on the text Friday.
But the word “sanctions,” which met with resistance from seven of the 15 Security Council members, is absent from the text, though it notes that the council “expresses its intention to consider further actions — including measures as provided for in Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations — on the government of Sudan, in the event of noncompliance.” Article 41 provides for sanctions to be applied.
Up to 50,000 people have been killed and about 1.2 million have been displaced in the region in 17 months of conflict. The Janjaweed, the main Arab militia group allied with the government, has been blamed for many of the atrocities carried out against civilians in Darfur.
Powell acknowledged there was concern among some countries, in particular Sudan’s neighbor Egypt, over any imposition of sanctions.
“There is concern that we don’t want to put so much pressure on the Sudanese government that it causes internal problems that might make the situation worse. At the same time everyone recognizes that pressure is needed or else we would no get any action at all.
“We have been calibrating the pressure over the past month so the message goes clearly to the Sudanese that we are expecting action but are giving them the necessary time to take that action. They have had a month now and this resolution gives them another month but says that at the end of the month the Security Council will look at it again to see what measures might be necessary.”
The UN draft resolution calls for Khartoum to make good on the commitments it made on July 3 to improve the situation in Darfur and to arrest and try those responsible for the atrocities. It also calls for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to issue a report in 30 days on the progress made in each of those areas.