March 30, 2005

U.N. Council Approves Penalties in Darfur

New York Times

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 - The Security Council voted Tuesday to impose sanctions on individuals in the conflicted Darfur region of Sudan who commit atrocities or break cease-fire agreements.

The vote was 12 to 0, with three countries - Algeria, China and Russia - abstaining. Under the resolution, all 15 countries would contribute members to a new panel that would decide who was eligible for punishment.

The measure, drafted by the United States, bans travel by individuals who are deemed guilty of offenses and freezes their assets. It also forbids the Sudanese government in Khartoum from conducting offensive military flights into Darfur and from sending military equipment there without first notifying the Security Council.

It did not contain an oil embargo, a step that probably would have brought a veto from China, which is a principal buyer of Sudanese oil.

It was the second Sudan resolution in a week. Criticism of the Council has been rising after two months of inaction on Darfur. The other one, also written by the United States, passed Thursday and authorized a 10,715-member peacekeeping force to monitor the peace agreement in the south of Sudan and to lend assistance to the 2,000-soldier African Union force in Darfur.

A third resolution, which would determine what court should handle war-crimes suspects, is scheduled for action Wednesday. The resolution, drafted by France and supported by 11 of the Council members, proposes that suspects be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The United States opposes the court, and Stuart Holliday, a deputy American ambassador, declined Tuesday to say whether the United States would veto the measure.

The United States suggested creating a new court for Sudanese crimes in Arusha, Tanzania, but the idea attracted little support. Nine of the 15 Council members have ratified the treaty creating the international court, and three others, Algeria, the Philippines and Russia, have signed it.

The Darfur sanctions resolution said the people subject to its terms would be those who were found to "impede the peace process, constitute a threat to stability in Darfur and the region, commit violations of international humanitarian or human rights law or other atrocities."

In statements by their ambassadors, the three abstaining countries said they felt that putting pressure on Sudan would be counterproductive. "You may end up complicating the situation and making it more difficult to resolve," said Andrei Denisov, the Russian ambassador.

Passage of the measure brought a rebuke from Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa, the Sudanese ambassador, who complained that the real impulse had come from members of the United States Congress who he complained were beholden to "pressure groups and drum-beaters."

He charged that American lawmakers knew nothing about his country and never visited or read about it, a critique that brought a rejoinder from Mr. Holliday. Saying he had not meant to make a statement, Mr. Holliday asked for the floor to "defend the honor of the United States Congress." He told Mr. Erwa that, contrary to his assertion that the lawmakers ignored his country, many of them had gone there to see the situation firsthand.

The United Nations office in Khartoum reported Tuesday that the number of people displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict in Darfur had reached 2.4 million. The United Nations estimates that 180,000 people have died, but other reliable estimates place the figure at 300,000.

Pro-government Arab militias, including those known as the janjaweed, have been blamed for most of the violence, including rape, murder and arson. The Security Council has been pressing the government to arrest and prosecute the militia leaders, and this week Khartoum announced that it had taken 24 people into custody on suspicion of crimes including rape and murder in Darfur.