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UN Renews Sudan Sanctions Threat
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Sudan
has called the resolution a “collective punishment” against
its people
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UNITED
NATIONS, September 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The UN
Security Council late on Saturday, September 18, passed a US-drafted
resolution threatening to “envisage” sanctions against Sudan's oil
industry unless the Khartoum government meets its commitment to
restore security to its troubled Darfur province.
The
vote on the 15-member council, taken in the presence of UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, was 11-0, with
China
,
Russia
,
Algeria
and
Pakistan
abstaining, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Resolution
1564 was initially tabled by the
United States
, was co-sponsored in its final, thrice-amended version by
Germany
,
Spain
,
Britain
and
Romania
.
It
warns that the Security Council “will envisage” sanctions, after
consulting with the African Union, against
Sudan
's oil industry unless the
Khartoum
government makes good on its promise to protect the population of
Darfur
.
The
resolution also called on Annan to set up an international commission
to investigate charges of human rights violations in
Darfur
.
And
it demanded that the Sudanese government avoid overflights of the
Darfur
region by its air force.
The
council also voiced approval of
Khartoum
's recent demand for an increase in the African Union's observer
mission in
Darfur
, which the council supports unanimously.
Chinese
Abstention
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“My
country's view is that instead of helping, sanctions only make
things more complicated,” said Wang
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Though
the oil concession in southern
Darfur
is currently in the hands of the China National Petroleum Company,
China
abstained from the vote.
It
argued that it objected to the mention, however veiled, of the threat
of sanctions.
“Only
a political solution will bring peace to the population of
Darfur
,” Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said after the vote.
“My
country's view is that instead of helping, sanctions only make things
more complicated.”
The
UN secretary general, impatient with the security council's
foot-dragging on the issue, had pounded the table with his fist on
Thursday, September 16, saying it was “urgent to act now.”
Stressing
that civilians remained the target of attacks by Arab militias in
Darfur
, Annan demanded the council act on the resolution without delay, and
with maximum unity.
The
war in
Darfur
broke out in February 2003 when rebels rose up against
Khartoum
to demand an end to the political and economic marginalization of
their region, peopled mainly by black Africans.
Khartoum
's response was to back Arab militias,
known as Janjaweed, and give them free rein to crack down on the
rebels and their backers.
The
United Nations has labeled the 16-month-old conflict as the world's
worst current humanitarian crisis, amid mixed reports putting the
number of people killed at 10,000 to 50,000 and over one million
reportedly forced to flee their homes.
But
Dr. Hussein Gezairy, Regional Director of World Health
Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, told IslamOnline.net on
July 29 that the situation in the restive area did
not amount to genocide or ethnic cleansing as claimed.
‘Collective
Punishment’
Reacting
to the resolution, the Sudanese government called it in a statement
carried by Al-Jazeera a “collective punishment” to the Sudanese
people.
The
Sudanese embassy in
Washington
said in another statement that the government was committed to the
resolution “even though it was unfair and unjust to the
Sudan
,” according to the independent Al Sahafa newspaper.
The
newspaper said the Sudanese cabinet would hold an extraordinary
meeting on Sunday, September 19, to discuss the resolution.
The
UNSC threatened
Sudan
on July 31 with punitive measures if it failed to rein in the Arab
militias within one month.
The
move is seen by observers as a new bid by the
US
to “legitimize”
its threats against several countries, chiefly
Syria
and
Iran
.
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