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| Africa: Horn |
| UN calls for tougher arms embargo in Darfur |
| 2005-03-30 |
| he U.N. Security Council on Tuesday strengthened an arms embargo on Sudan's Darfur region to include the government and ordered an asset freeze and travel ban on those who defy peace efforts in the conflict-wracked area. The U.S.-backed resolution passed 12-0, with Algeria, Russia and China abstaining because of opposition to sanctions. The resolution widens an embargo on armed groups in Darfur to include the Sudanese government which will now need approval from a new Security Council committee to bring weapons into the vast western region. It also demands the government abide by an April 2004 ceasefire and stop carrying out offensive military overflights in Darfur. It would impose an asset freeze and a travel ban on those who violate the sanctions or are responsible for the overflights. ``What we're trying to do is apply consistent pressure on Darfur, specifically in a way that will actually curtail the violence,'' U.S. Deputy Ambassador Stuart Holliday said after the vote. An estimated 180,000 people have died in the conflict since February 2003, when two non-Arab rebel groups took up arms against the Arab-dominated government to win more political and economic rights for Darfur's African tribes. But British lawmakers said in a report Wednesday that the death toll has been grossly underestimated and is likely to be around 300,000, calling attacks against civilians in the region ``no less serious and heinous than genocide.'' The report by the House of Commons' International Development Committee slammed the Security Council, saying it has been ``divided, weak and ineffective'' because it has been driven by member states' interests in oil and exporting arms. The Security Council vote was the latest step in drawn-out efforts to confront the Darfur crisis. Last week, the council unanimously approved a resolution creating a peacekeeping mission to monitor a deal that ended a 21-year conflict in southern Sudan unrelated to Darfur. The council hopes that agreement will also help Darfur move toward peace. The Security Council must still confront the most contentious issue of all: how best to punish war criminals in Darfur. Several council members want the cases referred to the International Criminal Court, a body that the United States opposes. Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Elfatih Mohamed Erwa criticized the sanctions resolution, saying it was orchestrated by the U.S. Congress. ``We don't like the council to take a series of resolutions that are not wise and might make this situation worse,'' Erwa said. ``The more sticks you bring to solve this problem, you are not going to solve this problem. You are going to make it more complicated.'' Early on, the council had hoped to deal with all three issues - the sanctions, the peacekeepers and the war criminals - in one resolution. But because agreement could not be reached, the United States decided to split the issues into three resolutions. However, after the Americans presented their resolution on peacekeepers last week, France put forward its own resolution that would prosecute suspected Sudanese war criminals before the International Criminal Court. France and several other members of the council had always demanded that all the issues be dealt with at once, not piecemeal as the United States proposed. French officials said they planned to put forward their resolution for a vote on Wednesday at the earliest. In London, the newly released British House of Commons committee report accused the international community of a ``scandalously ineffective response'' to the situation in Darfur and says governments across the world are guilty of failing to deal with the crisis. The report recommends referring the Darfur crisis to the International Criminal Court and introducing targeted sanctions and an extension of the arms embargo to cover the Sudanese government. Committee chairman Tony Baldry said the world's failure to protect the people of Darfur from the atrocities committed against them was a scandal. ``Crises such as Darfur require the world to respond collectively and effectively. Passing the buck will not do,'' Baldry said. ``After the genocide in Rwanda, the world said 'never again.' President Bush said that genocide would not be allowed to happen 'on his watch.' These words should mean something.'' |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 "Cake or Death?" "Uh, cake please." "Damnit. Okay, here." "Psst. Kofi, we'd better order more cake." |
| Posted by: .com 2005-03-30 8:21:35 AM |