UN mulls resolution pressing Sudan on Darfur
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 10 (AFP)– UN Security Council nations met to look for common ground on a disputed US draft resolution pressing Sudan to rein in the Arab militias behind the bloodshed in Darfur.
The council emerged divided on Thursday after the United States formally presented the resolution, the second since July aimed at stopping the violence, which has left as many as 50,000 people dead.
China led a number of nations in objecting to the draft, which calls for a beefed-up African Union force in Darfur and hangs the threat of sanctions on Sudan’s oil industry if Khartoum does not disarm and stop the militias.
Experts from the council’s 15 nations met to discuss possible changes to the text, with the United States pushing for a vote on the measure next week.
“Time is of the essence and I think every day counts,” US ambassador John Danforth said after the council met on Thursday evening.
Details of Friday’s discussions were not immediately available.
The United States has said the killing amounts to genocide, a claim rejected by the Sudanese government, and included in the draft a call for an international commission of enquiry into the slaughter.
Washington has solid support from Germany and Britain, and needs nine votes for passage if no permanent council member decides to veto. Russia, Pakistan, Algeria and China have expressed unhappiness with the draft.
US President George W. Bush discussed the situation with South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday, a White House spokesman said.
“Pressure has to be maintained, we are profoundly preoccupied by the situation,” German foreign ministry Walter Lindner said in Berlin.
The council passed a similar resolution in July 13-0, with China and Pakistan abstaining.
In addition to the tens of thousands killed, some 1.4 million more have been uprooted in the campaign against black Africans, which started out as an attempt to put down a rebel uprising launched in February 2003.
Reports of widespread rape, villages burnt to the ground and other atrocities by the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, have drawn international concern but also disagreement over how to get Sudan to stop the violence.
“There’s a lot of work to do. Several delegations do not want sanctions,” said Ambassador Abdallah Baali of Algeria, the lone Arab member of the Security Council.
But Danforth said the threat of sanctions was needed to get Khartoum to act.
“The government of Sudan is not going to respond if there’s no pressure,” the US ambassador said. “That possibility must be out there.”
French ambassador Jean Marc de La Sabliere said he also wanted a vote next week, stressing that the council needed to take action quickly and calling the US draft a “good basis” for further discussions.
“The council has to keep some pressure on the government of Sudan,” de La Sabliere said, expressing hope for “a resolution that would be adopted by a large majority.”
Sudan on Thursday insisted that the Darfur question was an “internal” matter.