UN threat ‘exacerbates the situation,’ says Sudan

A US-backed United Nations resolution threatening sanctions over the violence in Darfur will only make it harder for the government to calm an insurrection in the region, a Sudanese official said yesterday.

Despite his criticism, the foreign ministry official, Mutrif Sideeq, indicated his government would try to comply with the resolution meant to push it to rein in the Arab militia known as the Janjaweed.

“We in the government will go ahead in trying to bring the situation to normal in Darfur, regardless of what is being said about pressure being applied on the government,” Mr Sideeq told state-run radio Omdurman.

But “we think the res-olution was faulty and sends a wrong message to the rebels,” said Mr Sideeq, a Foreign Ministry under-secretary.

Even before the resolution was passed, Sudanese officials had complained that they believed the US position was encouraging rebels to take a hard-line at peace talks.

The talks broke down last week, but the Nigerian hosts and mediators held out the prospect that delegates could return to the table, possibly in October.

The conflict began when the two Darfur rebel groups rose up in February 2003, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of neglect and discrimination.

Since then, according to UN estimates, over 1.2 million people have fled their homes and more than 50,000 have died. Most of the deaths are linked to disease or malnutrition in camps for the displaced.

In an 11-0 vote on Saturday with four abstentions - China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria - the Security Council said it would meet again to consider sanctions against Sudan’s petroleum sector or other punitive measures if the government doesn’t act quickly to stop the violence.

The resolution also authorises UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a commission to investigate reports of human rights violations in Darfur and determine “whether or not acts of genocide have occurred”.

Before the resolution was passed, President Omar el-Bashir said his government was committed to finding a “peaceful settlement to the question of Darfur”. Majzoub Khalifa, head of the delegation, said US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s declaration last week that genocide was occurring in Darfur “resulted in a negative atmosphere and pushed the rebels into adopting hard-line positions”.

Sudan’s UN ambassador Elfatih Erwa called the resolution “unfair,” but said his government would implement it despite “the injustices it contains” and “in principle” was not opposed to the human rights inquiry.

Erwa accused the United States of introducing the measure solely to achieve “the political objectives” of President George W Bush and the US Congress.

The talks had made little progress since they opened on August 23.

Rebels said the government was seeking concessions that would have led to their annihilation.

In the final days of negotiations the rebels rejected a practical accord that would have cleared the way for aid agencies’ access to refugees, saying provisions already in place allowed humanitarian work and refusing to sign anything before the government pledged to disarm the Janjaweed.

The Sudanese government, accused in the past of blocking humanitarian work, had said it was ready to sign the humanitarian accord.