UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council remained divided Monday on imposing punitive measures over the conflict in Darfur despite calls for sanctions against Sudanese allegedly blocking peace in the region.U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, on the next to last day of the U.S. presidency of the council, scheduled a closed-door meeting to discuss a report by a U.N.-appointed panel that recommended sanctions against key figures from all groups. Most of the 15-member council were in favor of sanctions, led by the United States, Britain, France and Denmark - but Qatar, China, and Russia were strongly opposed, council diplomats said. Qatar is the only Arab member of the council, China is a major buyer of Sudanese oil, and Russia traditionally opposes sanctions.
The council heard a report from Greece's U.N. Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis, who chairs the sanctions committee on Sudan. The committee - which includes all 15 council members - ``does not agree with the recommendations'' of the U.N.-appointed panel which called for sanctons against all the parties in the conflict. Human rights groups have also called for sanctions. Bolton told reporters after the meeting that some committee members, whom he didn't name, don't agree with the recommendations for sanctions. But he said ``it will be not very far from now'' that the council will have to make a decision.
The report by the four-member panel included a confidential list of names to the Security Council committee of its recommendations for sanctions, including all parties. Bolton expressed the council's concern that some names had been published in the media. Qatar, China and Russia are now insisting that the sanctions committee establish criteria to determine who should be subject to sanctions, which some supporters view as a
Bolton said he told the council that it should mean what it says - and carry out its resolutions. ``If the council doesn't mean what it says and isn't willing to take steps to persuade people to follow what it says, its credibility will decline,'' he said. ``People need to consider that consequence.''
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| And then they'll wait longer. |