U.N. Security Council to vote on Darfur resolution
NEW YORK, July 30, 2004 (dpa) — The United Nations Security Council planned to vote Friday on a U.S.-British resolution calling for an arms embargo on the militias accused of committing atrocities against civilians in western Sudan.
Ethnic Arab militias known as Janjaweed have been accused of carrying out atrocities against black Africans in Darfur while battling two rebel groups. The militias have allegedly attacked villages, slayed civilians, burned crops and killed livestock to intentionally create a wave of refugees.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on Thursday issued revised estimates of up to 80,000 deaths in Darfur during the last year. It said that 30,000 people have been slain, with another 50,000 succumbing to hunger and disease in the wake of the violence.
U.N. agencies estimated that 1.2 million refugees are displaced within Darfur while another 200,000 people have fled Sudan into neighbouring Chad.
Sudan’s government, with alleged links to the militias, has been under increasing pressure from the international community to quell the violence and allow greater humanitarian intervention.
At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said Washington was reluctant to impose sanctions against Khartoum but it must quickly improve its response to the crisis.
“We have a problem. The problem has to be solved by the government in Sudan,” Danforth said. “If it does not, then there will be consequences. The tragedy in Darfur is not going to be permitted to fall off of the table as far as the international community is concerned.”
USAID assistant administrator Roger Winter said Thursday in Washington that Darfur was a “humanitarian disaster of the first magnitude”, and that emergency relief will be needed for at least the next 18 months.
“That’s because the planting seasons for this year have already been lost,” he said. “That means this population, which is normally a rather self-sufficient population, will continue to be dependent for the impact of another whole planting season.”
At the United Nations, the draft resolution introduced by the United States and Britain would have the Security Council consider “further actions” if the situation in Darfur is not improved within 30 days. It said that under the U.N. charter, the council can punish Sudan by limiting or cutting economic relations and breaking diplomatic contacts.
The resolution would not authorize the use of military forces against Sudan.
The draft calls for resumption of peace talks between Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the African rebel groups fighting the Janjaweed. Khartoum has denied having supported the militias.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement that there have been continuing intimidation, threats and attacks against Darfur people displaced by war. He cited reports of rape committed by Janjaweed militias and severe harassment of displaced people in some refugee camps.
Annan, who was attending an African summit meeting in Ghana, said Sudanese government security personnel have been threatening displaced people who have spoken to foreign visitors and have arrested and beaten several community leaders.
“The secretary general appeals to the government to abide immediately by is commitments to ensure the protection of all internally displaced people in Darfur,” spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
Several council members – including Pakistan, China and Russia – have opposed imposing sanctions, arguing that Khartoum should be given ample time to implement the set of agreements with Annan.
But German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul accused Russia of blocking the sanctions because it was concerned with business deals.
“Some governments – keyword Russia – are interested in arms sales,” Wieczorel-Zeul said on ZDF television news. “Some have oil interests in the region, and to the outside world, they give certain other arguments, but inwardly, it is about such economic interests.”
A July 3 agreement between Annan and the Khartoum government had called for free access to Darfur for international relief workers, pursuit and prosecution of human rights violations, and deployment of thousands of Sudanese police to secure the region and disarm militias. Monitors from the African Union were to be allowed into western Sudan to observe a ceasefire in Darfur.
The United Nations said Thursday that only one of those demands has been met: the improved access for relief workers to Darfur.