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Sudan rejects UN resolution on Darfur; China threatens veto
China is threatening to veto a revised US draft resolution that would consider UN sanctions against against Sudan's oil industry if Khartoum does not rein in marauding militia fighters in its Darfur region, diplomats reported yesterday. Pakistan and Algeria also oppose the new UN Security Council draft and Russia and Brazil have some objections, the envoys said after initial negotiations. European nations back the resolution. The United States wants a vote by Friday and probably has 10 sure votes. Washington has to decide whether to make further changes or risk a veto, should Beijing carry out its threat. A resolution in the 15-member council needs a minimum of nine votes in favor and no veto from a permanent member — China, Russia, Britain, France and the US. On Tuesday, the United States softened the text that now says the council "shall consider" measures "such as actions to affect Sudan's petroleum sector" if Khartoum does not end atrocities by Arab militia against African villagers or fails to cooperate with an expanded mission of the African Union. The earlier draft last week declared the council "will take" punitive actions, including against the oil industry. Meanwhile, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail yesterday rejected a proposed new UN Security Council resolution on the country's war-torn Darfur region, calling it "illogical and unbalanced." "It is an illogical and unbalanced resolution," Ismail told a press conference here. "Sudan is open to an increase in the number of observers and to the creation of a fact-finding commission, or that the United States sends observers" to the region. These measure would be on top of the "African observation mission," said Ismail, who had been attending an Arab League meeting here. The US-inspired draft warns the Sudanese government that if it does not meet its promise to re-establish security in Darfur, then the UN Security Council would consider sanctions. Posted by: TS(vice girl) 2004-09-15 |
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