US proposes sanctions against Sudan
The US drafted UN resolution is recommending sanctions on Sudan if it does not prosecute those behind atrocities in Darfur.
Meanwhile Sudanese sources warned Washington on Friday from making threats when Afghanistan and Iraq still serve as quagmires for the Bush administration.
Speaking to Aljazeera, Rabya Abd Al-Ati Ubaid, head of the Sudanese News Agency (SUNA), said Sudan has vowed to disarm all militias.
“Sudan’s government has the ability to deal with the Darfur’s crisis if given enough time and there is no need for a regional or international interference. The issue is internal, it is a tribal issue,” he said.
“Local administration and Sudanese political factions will solve the crisis,” Ubaid added.
Ultimatum
Under the resolution proposed on Thursday, Sudan must bring leaders of the militia known as Janjawid, to justice or face sanctions within 30 days.
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“Sudan’s government has the ability to deal with the Darfur’s crisis if given enough time and there is no need for a regional or international interference. The issue is internal, it is tribal issue” Rabya Abd Al-Ati Ubaid, |
The resolution does not set out an automatic mechanism that would trigger the sanctions, but does call for an immediate though hard-to-enforce arms embargo in Darfur. The measure also raises the possibility of peacekeepers for the region.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met during the day to discuss the situation in Sudan.
Powell and Annan both said while aid access had improved, there had been little progress in reining in the militias. Air attacks, presumably carried out by the government, were reportedly continuing.
‘Resolution will pass’
Annan said he sensed the latest US resolution would succeed.
“The international community is very serious about this,” Annan said. “We will continue to insist that the government performs.”
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More than a million people have |
“They have been supporting and sustaining some of these Janjaweed elements. This has to end,” Powell said, stressing his displeasure with the Sudanese government.
But SUNA’s Ubaid criticised Washington’s use of the media to vocalise their discontent.
“The international community and Washington should help solve the issue and not to exaggerate it by using the media,” Ubaid said.
“Magnifying the issue will not lead to a solution but will create a state of instability in the region,” he added.
More than 10,000 people have died and more than a million have been displaced since the conflict began in February 2003 after a rebel uprising against Khartoum.
In response, the pro-government militias went on the rampage, carrying out what aid and rights agencies have called a brutal and systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing.