Security Council split on Darfur conflict

By Edith M. Lederer 
February 27, 2006
The Boston Globe
Original Source: http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/02/27/security_council_split_on_darfur_conflict/

UNITED NATIONS --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 conflict began in 2003 when Darfur's herding and farming communities, split by years of skirmishes over land and water, took up arms in large-scale fighting. More than 180,000 people have died from famine and violence. The Arab-dominated government in Khartoum has been accused of having unleashed Arab militias who carried out sweeping atrocities against ethnic African villagers. Khartoum denies the allegations.
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.
A Security Council resolution adopted in March 2005 authorized an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals who defy peace efforts, violate international human rights law, or are responsible for military overflights in Darfur -- and the panel was asked to come up with recommendations. The resolution also authorized the panel to help monitor an arms embargo in Darfur that was expanded to include the government as well as the rebels in an attempt to end the conflict. The United Nations in 2004 called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
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 delaying tactic, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.
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.
This month, the United States also failed to get council approval for a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace African Union troops now deployed in Darfur. Many council members want to wait for a formal request from the African Union, which is scheduled to meet on March 3.