US fine-tunes draft resolution as UN urges to stop crimes in Sudan
BEIJING, Sep 17, 2004 (Xinhua) — The United States put forward an amendment to a draft UN resolution on Sudan on Thursday in an effort to garner more support for it from other Security Council members.
Instead of setting up a none-fly zone in the troubled Darfur region, the new draft urges the government of Sudan to “refrain from conducting” military flights “in and over” the region.
But the United States maintains its threats of sanctions that may “affect Sudan’s petroleum sector” if the Sudanese government fails to comply, “including failure to cooperate fully with the expansion and extension of the African Union (AU) monitoring mission in Darfur.”
The draft also calls on Sudan to disarm and clamp down on the Janjaweed militias, who are blamed for clashes with the largely black African farmers over scarce resources in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, leaving thousands killed or displaced.
According to a spokesman of the US mission to the United Nations, the United States stick to the plan to push for a vote onthe draft resolution on Friday.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for measures to stop crimes in Darfur.
He said in an announcement that he will send a team of experts to Darfur to find out possible measures to help the suffering people there. “Their job is not to describe or characterize what is happening, but to see what more can be done to stop it, and to prevent further abuses.”
He urged all member states and organizations with the necessary logistical and financial capacity to do “whatever they can to makethis deployment happen as quickly as possible.”
Annan also urged the UN Security Council to act on the US-proposed draft resolution without delay “and to be as united as possible in the face of this crisis.”
Commenting on the fine-tuned US draft, Chinese UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said a new resolution should help defuse the crisis afflicting the African nation, rather than add further confusion to the already complicated situation there.
A resolution with too many threats would not help with the situation. Instead, it might further damage the already weak working relations between the world body and the government of Sudan and delay a real solution, Wang added.
ARAB LEAGUE TO HELP DEFUSE DARFUR CRISIS
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said Thursday after meeting with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail that his organization would make more efforts to defuse the crisis gripping Darfur.
The league has decided to contribute to funding the AU observers monitoring a cease-fire in the region.
“The league will also help cover administrative expenses for peace negotiations between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups in the Nigerian capital of Abuja,” Moussa added.
For his part, Foreign Minister Ismail accused the United Statesof politicizing the Darfur crisis.
“The Sudanese government has reservations about a US-sponsored draft resolution calling for sanctions against Sudan,” he said. “The draft contradicts with a report presented to the world body byUN envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk, who hailed progress by the Sudanese government in improving humanitarian conditions in Darfur.”
EUROPE CALLS FOR SANCTIONS
The European Parliament (EP) passed a resolution on Darfur at ameeting on Thursday in Strasbourg, France, calling on the UN Security Council to consider an arms embargo and other sanctions on Sudan.
While calling for targeted sanctions against “those responsiblefor the atrocities” in Darfur, the EP also stressed that the sanctions “do not add to the suffering” of innocent civilians.
The resolution also urged the Sudanese authorities to “end impunity and to bring to justice immediately the planners and perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes and human rights violations, which can be construed as tantamount to genocide.”
However, the resolution underlined the need for dialogue and political negotiation rather than military intervention in handling the Darfur crisis.
Earlier this week, the European Union (EU) foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels issued a declaration, threatening to impose sanctions on the Sudanese government and relevant parties if “no tangible progress” is achieved in meeting the EU demands