Sudan likely to avoid sanctions
By Andrew England
KHARTOUM, Oct 4, 2004 (Financial Times) — As the United Nations prepares to deliver its latest review of Sudan’s progress in ending violence in Darfur, rebel forces have increased attacks in an apparent bid to provoke government forces, diplomats and western security officials say.
Jan Pronk, the UN secretary-general’s special representative to Sudan, delivers his monthly report to the Security Council on Tuesday, following a September 17 UN resolution that threatened the government with oil sanctions unless it took action to protect civilians and rein in pro-government Arab militias, which have terrorised the region’s African tribes.
The US has said the violence in Darfur, which has made 1.4m homeless and killed thousands, constitutes genocide.
International condemnation of the crisis has focused on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s Islamic regime, which has been accused of backing the militias, known as Janjaweed.
But in recent weeks rebel attacks have increased while the government has attempted to restrain its forces. On September 22, the interior ministry accused the rebels, which draw their support from African tribes, of attacking a police station in West Kordofan state, killing eight civilians. A western security official said the attack was the first raid by the rebels outside Darfur.
“The government is trying to put the genie in the bottle and the rebels are trying to prolong this thing,” the official told the FT. “They feel that as long as they can provoke a response from the government, the international community will be on their side.”
Radhia Achouri, Mr Pronk’s spokeswoman, said the government had probably done enough to avoid sanctions for now by accepting an expanded African Union mission in Darfur and displaying a political commitment to improve the situation.
However, the UN is still concerned about security in the region, as well as the government’s failure to arrest or try Janjaweed leaders, Ms Achouri said.
“In terms of sanctions, I really cannot anticipate anything, but I can venture to say we don’t have anything that would provide the ground for sanctions for the time being.”
Ms Achouri added that there were concerns about reports of rebel attacks. “The facts are there are attacks attributed to the rebel movements. We are not comfortable with that. We think all the parties, including the rebel movements, have to be more reasonable,” she said.
“These rebel movements are claiming they are the representatives of the people of Darfur so they had better show it by not putting these people in the line of fire.”
The crisis erupted after two groups the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) took up arms in February 2003 saying they were fighting for an equitable share of power and wealth in Africa’s largest country.
The government blames the rebels for the crisis and has criticised the international community for not putting pressure on the insurgents, arguing that the rebels have little incentive to seek solutions to the conflict while pressure mounts on the government.