UN urged to impose sanctions on Khartoum over Darfur violence

NAIROBI, March 9 (AFP) — A leading international policy institute on Wednesday urged the UN Security Council to slap tough sanctions on Khartoum for its failure to end violence in Sudan’s troubled western Darfur region.

Sudanese women and children sit in front of a tent on the sand in the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons on the outskirts of the southern Darfur town of Nyala. (AFP) .

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said the council, which has passed two resolutions condemning the violence in Darfur but stopped short of imposing punitive measures on the government, should act more decisively.

“What we are calling for are targeted sanctions from the international community led by the UN Security Council,” said David Mozersky, the ICG’s Sudan expert, unveiling a new report here entitled “Darfur: The Failure To Protect.”

Such measures could include travel bans on those responsible for human rights abuses, implementation of no-fly zones and the extension to Khartoum of an arms embargo that now covers only the two Darfur rebel groups, he said.

The sanctions would “change the calculations so that the cost of inaction becomes greater than the cost of action,” Mozersky said.

Darfur has been wracked by vicious fighting since February 2003 when rebels took up arms to protest alleged marginalization and the government responded with a crackdown by its army and proxy militias known as the Janjaweed.

At least 70,000 people — a figure many believe is vastly underestimated — have been killed and nearly two million displaced as fighting has persisted despite expressions of deep concern from the United Nations and others.

The UN Security Council has been deeply split over imposing sanctions on Khartoum for Darfur with permanent members China and Russia notably opposed.

The council has also been divided over whether atrocities in Darfur should referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, which the United States vehemently opposes.

Mozersky said the ICC must be given jurisdiction for Darfur where he said “chaos and a culture of impunity” are taking root and threatening to unravel progress in other areas of Sudan, notably a peace accord that ended the country’s north-south civil war.

“Without firm action now, it is our fear that the situation in Darfur will continue to get worse … and with time it is going to undermine the implementation of the (north-south) agreement,” he said.