Sudan faces sanctions if Darfur crisis is not resolved
NEW YORK, July 30, 2004 (dpa) — The U.N. Security Council warned the Sudanese government on Friday to end the conflict in Darfur or face sanctions, as the council punished Arab militias in the region with an arms embargo for atrocities committed against civilians.
The 15-nation council voted 13-0 to adopt a resolution on the crisis in Darfur. China and Pakistan, which oppose sanctions against Sudan, abstained.
The resolution allows the council to apply Article 41 of the U.N. Charter, which offers measures such as economic sanctions and severance of diplomatic relations with governments that do not comply with U.N. demands. But Article 41 rules out military intervention.
The sanctions could be applied incrementally every 30 days if there is a lack of progress by Khartoum to fulfil a set of commitments that it signed on July 3 with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The commitments include disarming the militias in Darfur, investigating and punishing violators of human rights and allowing relief workers free access to Darfur.
The council imposed an arms embargo on Arab militias known as Janjaweed operating in Darfur, who the U.N. said Khartoum financed and trained to commit atrocities in Darfur. The Janjaweed have been fighting two African rebel groups in the region since February, 2003, a conflict that the United States has caused 30,000 deaths and an additional 50,000 deaths from starvation and malnutrition.
The July 3 communique between Khartoum and Annan called on Khartoum to disarm the Janjaweed, deploy a “strong and credible” police force to Darfur and take steps to rebuild confidence in the population, 1.2 million of whom are displaced by the fighting.
U.S. Ambassador John Danforth told the council that thus far Khartoum had failed to meet those commitments. He said the World Health Organization estimated that between 240 and 440 people die in Darfur every day, which would mean as many as 12,300 people have died since July 3, and more are dying every day.
“The government of Sudan has left us no choice,” Danforth said. “It has done the unthinkable. It has fostered an armed attack on its own civilian population. It has created a humanitarian disaster.
“The responsibility for this disaster lies squarely on the government of Sudan,” he said.
Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador Elfatih Mohammed Ahmed Erwa denounced the council’s adoption of the resolution as a hasty move that may complicate diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
Erwa denounced governments that voted in favour of the resolution for carrying a “policy of injustice” against Khartoum and for using the international media to denigrate it. He said atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. forces lead military campaigns, have been ignored.
It was the first time that a Sudanese official appeared before the council to defend his government, but only after the council had adopted the resolution.
China and Pakistan, which abstained in the vote, said imposition of sanctions would worsen the situation in Darfur.
To accommodate governments that oppose sanctions, the word “sanctions” was dropped from the resolution but it was replaced by Article 41. Diplomats, including Danforth, explained that Article 41 has the same effect as sanctions.
“You can call it a banana if you want, but it is the same,” a Western diplomat said this week.
The warning on the Sudanese government in the resolution said that Khartoum has 30 days to disarm the Janjaweed militias and bring to justice Janjaweed leaders and their associates who have “incited and carried out human rights and international humanitarian law violations and other atrocities.”
Annan is to report 30 days from Friday, and monthly thereafter, of any progress in implementing the commitments by Khartoum. The resolution said the council intended to take “further actions”, including applying measures contained in Article 41, “in the event of non-compliance” by Khartoum.