Sudan could face UN sanctions over Darfur
By Christopher Adams
LONDON, Aug 20, 2004 (Financial Times) — Western diplomats are considering economic and diplomatic sanctions that could be implemented against Sudan if it fails to make progress on an “action plan” agreed with the United Nations to quell violence in the Darfur region.
In London on Friday, a senior Foreign Office official said the options under discussion included travel bans against the country’s leadership, asset freezes, extending a European Union-wide arms embargo or the imposition of an oil embargo.
“People are making mental checklists, seeing how it might work. We don’t want to go down that route, but the [United Nations] security council said what it said and was serious about what it said,” an FCO official said.
The Sudanese government agreed to act after a July 30 UN resolution gave it 30 days to take measures to prevent attacks against civilians and prove its commitment to disarming pro-Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, or face economic and diplomatic action. Jack Straw, Britain’s foreign secretary, flies to Khartoum on Monday for talks with the country’s leaders, UN officials on the ground and aid agencies.
His visit comes days before the UN security council is due to discuss whether further action is needed. One option is to extend the period for compliance, but tougher measures could follow if Khartoum is judged to have made little progress. Britain supports calls to increase the number of military observers deployed in the Darfur region to monitor whether the Sudanese government fulfils its pledges to the UN. There are currently about 120 African Union observers in Darfur. But it is wary of widening the mandate of the force from its monitoring remit to allowing it to use force to protect civilians.
It is hoping persistent diplomatic pressure will help end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Violence in the region has made more than 1m people homeless and killed thousands. Human rights groups accuse the Janjaweed of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the region’s African tribes. Under the action plan, the Sudanese government promised to identify militias it had control over and instruct them to lay down their weapons. The FCO official said Khartoum was not yet doing enough.