Security Council remains deadlocked over southern Sudan resolution
UNITED NATIONS, March 17, 2005 (Xinhua) — The UN Security Council remains deadlocked over a US-draft resolution which would authorize the deployment of a 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan.
As a result, the 15-nation council voted on Thursday for another one-week technical extension of the mandate of an advance political UN mission in Sudan, which has been there since June 2004 to prepare for the planned peacekeeping operation.
Council members have so far failed to smooth their differences over whether to refer human rights violations and war crimes committed in Darfur, a conflict-wracked region in west Sudan, to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
France, Britain and other council members from Europe have demanded the US-proposed resolution allow the ICC to prosecute alleged perpetrators of crimes in Darfur. But the United States, astrong opponent of The Hague-based court, wants all suspects to betried by a new tribunal.
The council is also divided over whether to expand a Darfur-wide arms embargo to include Khartoum, which currently only targets rebels and their rival, local militias allied with the government.
Nigeria, which holds the rotating presidency of the African Union, presented a memorandum to the European Union (EU) mission at the UN, proposing for the establishment of an African tribunal to deal with the situation in Darfur.
The proposal to set up an “African Panel for Criminal Justice and Reconciliation” emphasizes justice and reconciliation as its main elements and “enjoys the support of the government of Sudan,”the memorandum said.
It is not immediately known whether the proposal could break the impasse.
Southern Sudan had been plagued by a 21-year-old civil war, thelongest-running in Africa, between the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army. The war was formally ended after apeace deal was signed in Kenya in January.
The peacekeeping operation under discussion is aimed at helpingthe two sides implement the landmark peace agreement and setting amodel for the solution of the Darfur conflict.