US readies new UN resolution on Sudan

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 14 (AFP) — The United States confirmed it would put forward a new draft UN resolution on Sudan aimed at pressing the government to end the bloodshed in its troubled Darfur region.

Washington ran into opposition on the UN Security Council when it first circulated a draft last week that put the threat of sanctions over Khartoum if it does not rein in the Arab militias behind the Darfur violence.

The resolution also called for beefing up a force from the African Union already on the ground to monitor a fragile ceasefire between Sudan and rebels who rose up against the government in February 2003.

“We plan to circulate the next draft of the resolution today, and our hope is that the vote will come towards the end of this week,” said John Danforth, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

He called the situation “a true tragedy” and said it was “all the more urgent the need for getting the African Union in place, which is the most immediate thing that can be done to help the people of Darfur.”

According to UN figures, as many as 50,000 people have died in Darfur, a vast desert area the size of France, and 1.4 million more have been displaced from their homes.

The Khartoum government is accused of arming and supporting the Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, who have conducted what UN officials say is a scorched-earth campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans.

The militias were unleashed as the Arab-led government attempted to put down the rebellion, and talks between the two sides in Nigeria are at a virtual standstill.

Sudan has rejected US claims that the killing amounts to genocide and has insisted that the Darfur crisis is an “internal” matter.