Sudan rejects ‘unbalanced’ UN resolution on Darfur

KHARTOUM, March 30 (AFP) — Sudan reacted angrily on Wednesday to a new UN Security Council resolution aimed at punishing actrocities in the war-torn western region of Darfur and vowed it was working to end the conflict.

The US-sponsored resolution passed on Tuesday was “unbalanced and inappropriate” and “ignored the government’s efforts in addressing the political, security and humanitarian aspects of the Darfur conflict,” a foreign ministry statement said.

The Security Council voted 12-0 to apply sanctions on individuals who commit atrocities or undermine peace efforts in Darfur, where government-backed militias and rebels have been fighting for more than two years.

The resolution allows for the seizure of assets and a travel ban against individuals who commit atrocities, impede the peace process in Darfur or “constitute a threat to stability” in the region.

Khartoum said that despite its objections, the government will deal with the resolution in accordance to its moral and legal responsibility towards its people.”

It will also “do everything possible to secure an immediate and comprehensive settlement to the conflict in Darfur.”

The ministry also complained that the resolution was adopted “at a time when the government was engaged in implementing the peace agreement,” referring to a January deal that ended another conflict in Sudan, between the government and rebels in the south of the country.

Khartoum said the move would also “greatly impede” its efforts to implement the January agreement, which put an end to more than two decades of conflict between north and south.