UN gives Sudan 30 days to 'stop the bloodshed'

The United Nations Security Council has given Sudan 30 days to stem the Darfur conflict or face the prospect of diplomatic and economic sanctions.

The Sudanese government swiftly rejected the resolution, which the council approved 13-0 yesterday, with China and Pakistan abstaining. Sudan’s information minister said it went against a previous agreement with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

“Sudan expresses its deep sorrow that the issue of Darfur has quickly entered the security council and has been hijacked from its regional arena,” information minister El-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik said in a statement issued in Arabic.

But the three African countries on the council – Algeria, Angola and Benin - strongly supported the resolution.

“We are particularly satisfied that the security council has requested the secretary-general to assist the African Union with planning and assessment for its mission in Darfur,” Algeria’s UN ambassador Abdallah Baali told the council, speaking on behalf of the three countries.

“We believe that the international community cannot be passive and indifferent to the ongoing humanitarian crisis … or to the horrendous crimes committed against the civilian populations.”

China and Pakistan insisted the Sudanese government was trying to rein in the pro-government Arab militias accused of slaughtering thousands in a brutal campaign to drive out black African farmers that the US Congress has called genocide.

The 17-month-old conflict over dwindling resources has led to 30,000 deaths in a western region the size of Iraq that has a population of about six million.

The United States, the lead sponsor of the resolution, did not specify what sanctions might be considered but said the council issued a tough warning to Sudan to rein in the militias, known as Janjaweed.

“The resolution in stern and unambiguous terms puts the Sudanese government on notice” that it must fulfil its commitments, US ambassador John Danforth said.

“Sudan must know that serious measures – international sanctions – are looming if the government refuses to do so.”

Danforth told journalists that the resolution alone was never the goal.

“The real question is what will happen next for the people of Darfur,” he said.

Sudan’s UN ambassador Elfatih Mohamed Erwa told the council his government was “in a race against time in order to implement the agreement” with Annan.

“We will do the right thing in spite of the way we have been treated,” he told The Associated Press.

Sudan promised Annan in a July 3 agreement that it would crack down on the Janjaweed militia and other armed groups, but humanitarian organisations and US officials say it has failed to honour that pledge.

Annan said in a statement that he hopes “the resolution will ensure that concerted action is taken to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur”.

He welcomed the council’s “strong support” for African Union efforts to resolve the crisis. France, Spain, Britain, Chile, Germany and Romania co-sponsored the resolution.

The adoption of the resolution came after extensive debate over the use of the word “sanctions,” which the United States removed from its final version after several countries objected to the explicit threat.

The United States and other supporters, however, insisted the threat of sanctions remained, if not the word.