|
African nations block motions against Sudan, Zimbabwe
Two proposed resolutions condemning widespread rights abuses in Sudan and Zimbabwe have failed to pass a UN committee, and are mired in debate between African and western nations. The UN General Assembly's Third Committee, which covers human rights, blocked the proposed resolutions by adopting so-called "no-action motions" filed by South Africa on behalf of the African group of nations. The motions blocking the resolutions, with African and other developing countries voting to hold up the proposed condemnations of Sudan and Zimbabwe that western nations want to pass.Since February 2003, more than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in Sudan's Darfur region, according to the United Nations, and another 1.5 million have been displaced. Zimbabwe has suffered more than four years of government-backed political violence, chronic food shortages and one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. "The African group remains unwavering in its total rejection of the country-specific resolutions within the UN," the South African representative, Pitso Montwedi, said. He says that resolutions targeting individual countries run against the principles of "friendly cooperation" that underlie UN actions. Posted by: tipper 2004-11-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=49738 |