UN Security Council to discuss Sudan sanctions
Posted by Alrabae Adam Ezaldeen
April 4, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The UN Security council is due to discuss a US-UK proposal to impose sanctions on Sudan Thursday for its refusal to allow UN peacekeepers to deploy in Darfur, Sudan Tribune has learned. It is not clear whether a draft resolution has already been introduced for debate.
The British Permanent Representative to the UN, Sir Emyr Jones Parry indicated last month that they are working on a draft resolution to impose sanctions on Sudan. Britain holds the presidency of the Security Council this month.
The Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir sent a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month suggesting severe limitations on the mandate and numbers of UN personnel in Darfur. The US & UK suggested that it may be time that the UNSC move to sanction Sudan for its refusal to let UN peacekeepers into Darfur. However on Monday Ban asked the US & UK for more time to engage in diplomacy with Sudan on the issue.
Ban’s plea for more time got a cool reception from US special envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios who met with him on Monday. According to an article by the Washington Post, Natsios suggested to Ban that a failure to act quickly could push Congress to adopt harsher measures.
The article quoted one US official as saying that Natsios cited bills that would support the right of states to divest their financial holdings in companies that do business with Sudan and ban those firms from tapping U.S. capital markets.
The Washington Post also quoted senior US officials that the Bush Administration has decided "to stop watering down U.N. resolutions before they are even introduced," and that “this time they will ask for what they want" including military and economic sanctions without fearing objections by China, a veto wielding member of the security council. Beijing voiced its objections to any sanctions on Sudan during in a closed meeting with other Security Council members on the issue last month.
China buys two-thirds of Sudan‘s oil and is the largest investor in the country. The Chinese president Hu Jintao visited Sudan in January where he signed a series of economic deals. It was also reported that president Hu urged the Sudanese president to accept AU-UN hybrid force in Darfur.
AU says more UN logistical help needed in Darfur
Posted by Alrabae Adam Ezaldeen
April 4, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — African Union forces need increased U.N. logistical assistance and more sophisticated defensive weapons to cope with the dangers in Darfur, a top AU official in Sudan said on Wednesday.
Sam Ibok, head of the AU team charged with implementing a peace agreement in western Sudan, said the support included planes.
"We need more defensive weapons. AK-47s and the other weapons we have are not enough," he told Reuters.
Ibok said he was not calling for the immediate deployment of U.N. troops to help the AU, a move he said would require the consent of the Khartoum government.
But he said the recent attack on AU forces in Darfur demonstrated their vulnerability.
Gunmen attacked five AU troops on Sunday in the deadliest single attack against the African force since it was deployed in 2004.
The five Senegalese soldiers were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday. Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and the fifth died of his wounds on Monday morning.
The AU operates an overstretched 7,000-strong force in Darfur. Sudan has rejected the deployment of a larger U.N. force in the region, where violence has persisted despite a 2006 peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction.
The latest deaths brought to 15 the number of AU personnel killed in Darfur. A senior Nigerian officer working with the mission has been missing since he was kidnapped in December.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir reiterated on Monday his position that the AU had the main security responsibility for Darfur but said a "dialogue" was under way on other issues.
Sudanese officials recently said they were willing to review U.N. proposals for easing the violence in Darfur but Khartoum has not budged on the main plan to send in 22,500 U.N. soldiers.
Experts estimate that around 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled their homes since the conflict flared in 2003, when rebels took up arms against Khartoum, charging it with neglect. The government says only 9,000 people have died.
Last month the new U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said on a visit to the region that aid efforts in Darfur — the world’s largest — could collapse if the situation worsened.
African Union can no longer cope alone in Darfur
Posted by Alrabae Adam Ezaldeen
April 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — African Union forces can no longer cope with the dangers in Darfur and need the help of U.N. troops to prevent further "slaughter", a top AU official in Sudan said on Tuesday.
Sam Ibok, head of the AU team charged with implementing a peace agreement in western Sudan, expressed his concerns after gunmen killed five AU troops in the deadliest single attack against the African force since it deployed in 2004.
The five Senegalese soldiers were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday. Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and the fifth died of his wounds on Monday morning.
"The African Union force cannot cope with the circumstances that it finds itself in, and we have to be honest about it," Ibok told Reuters Television in an interview.
"Anybody who wants us to succeed would need to work to give us the ability to be more effective and that can only be done ... between the United Nations and the African Union."
The AU operates an overstretched 7,000-strong force in Darfur. Sudan has rejected the deployment of a larger U.N. force in the region, where violence has persisted despite a 2006 peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction.
The latest deaths brought to 15 the number of AU personnel killed in Darfur since troops were deployed in late 2004. A senior Nigerian officer working with the mission has been missing since he was kidnapped in December.
"We are not going to carry on like that anymore. We are not going to accept that these forces just be slaughtered like that by people who are not interested in peace in Darfur," said Ibok.
"We are going to try to work with the United Nations so that whoever is behind these things would be brought to trial and would be subject to the relevant international law because it is totally unacceptable."
CHAOS
Darfur is more chaotic by the day, with rebels, government forces, armed groups and tribes operating on multiple front lines, hampering the world’s biggest humanitarian effort. Aid officials say it is becoming impossible to tell them apart.
Experts estimate that around 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled their homes since the conflict flared in 2003, when rebels took up arms against Khartoum, charging it with neglect. The government says only 9,000 people have died.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir reiterated on Monday his position that the AU had the main security responsibility for Darfur but said a "dialogue" was under way on other issues.
Sudanese officials recently said they were willing to review U.N. proposals for easing the violence in Darfur but Khartoum has not budged on the main plan to send 22,500 U.N. soldiers and police to supplement the struggling AU mission.
The AU said the attack on its troops was carried out in territory held by the Sudan Liberation Army, which signed the peace deal with the Sudanese government last year. An SLA spokesman in Khartoum denied his forces had any involvement in the attack.
A shooting attack on a helicopter carrying the AU deputy force commander a day before occurred in a stronghold of an SLA rejectionist faction led by Abdul Wahid.
Tribal clashes, meanwhile, are killing more people than fighting between government forces and Darfur rebels, with hundreds dead since the start of the year.
The violence has also spilled across borders.
At least 65 people were killed in a cross-border raid by Sudanese Janjaweed militia who torched two villages in eastern Chad, driving up to 8,000 civilians from their homes, Chadian authorities said on Tuesday.
Sudan said it had no role in the weekend attacks.
Posted by Alrabae Adam Ezaldeen
April 4, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The UN Security council is due to discuss a US-UK proposal to impose sanctions on Sudan Thursday for its refusal to allow UN peacekeepers to deploy in Darfur, Sudan Tribune has learned. It is not clear whether a draft resolution has already been introduced for debate.
The British Permanent Representative to the UN, Sir Emyr Jones Parry indicated last month that they are working on a draft resolution to impose sanctions on Sudan. Britain holds the presidency of the Security Council this month.
The Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir sent a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month suggesting severe limitations on the mandate and numbers of UN personnel in Darfur. The US & UK suggested that it may be time that the UNSC move to sanction Sudan for its refusal to let UN peacekeepers into Darfur. However on Monday Ban asked the US & UK for more time to engage in diplomacy with Sudan on the issue.
Ban’s plea for more time got a cool reception from US special envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios who met with him on Monday. According to an article by the Washington Post, Natsios suggested to Ban that a failure to act quickly could push Congress to adopt harsher measures.
The article quoted one US official as saying that Natsios cited bills that would support the right of states to divest their financial holdings in companies that do business with Sudan and ban those firms from tapping U.S. capital markets.
The Washington Post also quoted senior US officials that the Bush Administration has decided "to stop watering down U.N. resolutions before they are even introduced," and that “this time they will ask for what they want" including military and economic sanctions without fearing objections by China, a veto wielding member of the security council. Beijing voiced its objections to any sanctions on Sudan during in a closed meeting with other Security Council members on the issue last month.
China buys two-thirds of Sudan‘s oil and is the largest investor in the country. The Chinese president Hu Jintao visited Sudan in January where he signed a series of economic deals. It was also reported that president Hu urged the Sudanese president to accept AU-UN hybrid force in Darfur.
AU says more UN logistical help needed in Darfur
Posted by Alrabae Adam Ezaldeen
April 4, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — African Union forces need increased U.N. logistical assistance and more sophisticated defensive weapons to cope with the dangers in Darfur, a top AU official in Sudan said on Wednesday.
Sam Ibok, head of the AU team charged with implementing a peace agreement in western Sudan, said the support included planes.
"We need more defensive weapons. AK-47s and the other weapons we have are not enough," he told Reuters.
Ibok said he was not calling for the immediate deployment of U.N. troops to help the AU, a move he said would require the consent of the Khartoum government.
But he said the recent attack on AU forces in Darfur demonstrated their vulnerability.
Gunmen attacked five AU troops on Sunday in the deadliest single attack against the African force since it was deployed in 2004.
The five Senegalese soldiers were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday. Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and the fifth died of his wounds on Monday morning.
The AU operates an overstretched 7,000-strong force in Darfur. Sudan has rejected the deployment of a larger U.N. force in the region, where violence has persisted despite a 2006 peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction.
The latest deaths brought to 15 the number of AU personnel killed in Darfur. A senior Nigerian officer working with the mission has been missing since he was kidnapped in December.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir reiterated on Monday his position that the AU had the main security responsibility for Darfur but said a "dialogue" was under way on other issues.
Sudanese officials recently said they were willing to review U.N. proposals for easing the violence in Darfur but Khartoum has not budged on the main plan to send in 22,500 U.N. soldiers.
Experts estimate that around 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled their homes since the conflict flared in 2003, when rebels took up arms against Khartoum, charging it with neglect. The government says only 9,000 people have died.
Last month the new U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said on a visit to the region that aid efforts in Darfur — the world’s largest — could collapse if the situation worsened.
African Union can no longer cope alone in Darfur
Posted by Alrabae Adam Ezaldeen
April 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — African Union forces can no longer cope with the dangers in Darfur and need the help of U.N. troops to prevent further "slaughter", a top AU official in Sudan said on Tuesday.
Sam Ibok, head of the AU team charged with implementing a peace agreement in western Sudan, expressed his concerns after gunmen killed five AU troops in the deadliest single attack against the African force since it deployed in 2004.
The five Senegalese soldiers were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday. Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and the fifth died of his wounds on Monday morning.
"The African Union force cannot cope with the circumstances that it finds itself in, and we have to be honest about it," Ibok told Reuters Television in an interview.
"Anybody who wants us to succeed would need to work to give us the ability to be more effective and that can only be done ... between the United Nations and the African Union."
The AU operates an overstretched 7,000-strong force in Darfur. Sudan has rejected the deployment of a larger U.N. force in the region, where violence has persisted despite a 2006 peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction.
The latest deaths brought to 15 the number of AU personnel killed in Darfur since troops were deployed in late 2004. A senior Nigerian officer working with the mission has been missing since he was kidnapped in December.
"We are not going to carry on like that anymore. We are not going to accept that these forces just be slaughtered like that by people who are not interested in peace in Darfur," said Ibok.
"We are going to try to work with the United Nations so that whoever is behind these things would be brought to trial and would be subject to the relevant international law because it is totally unacceptable."
CHAOS
Darfur is more chaotic by the day, with rebels, government forces, armed groups and tribes operating on multiple front lines, hampering the world’s biggest humanitarian effort. Aid officials say it is becoming impossible to tell them apart.
Experts estimate that around 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled their homes since the conflict flared in 2003, when rebels took up arms against Khartoum, charging it with neglect. The government says only 9,000 people have died.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir reiterated on Monday his position that the AU had the main security responsibility for Darfur but said a "dialogue" was under way on other issues.
Sudanese officials recently said they were willing to review U.N. proposals for easing the violence in Darfur but Khartoum has not budged on the main plan to send 22,500 U.N. soldiers and police to supplement the struggling AU mission.
The AU said the attack on its troops was carried out in territory held by the Sudan Liberation Army, which signed the peace deal with the Sudanese government last year. An SLA spokesman in Khartoum denied his forces had any involvement in the attack.
A shooting attack on a helicopter carrying the AU deputy force commander a day before occurred in a stronghold of an SLA rejectionist faction led by Abdul Wahid.
Tribal clashes, meanwhile, are killing more people than fighting between government forces and Darfur rebels, with hundreds dead since the start of the year.
The violence has also spilled across borders.
At least 65 people were killed in a cross-border raid by Sudanese Janjaweed militia who torched two villages in eastern Chad, driving up to 8,000 civilians from their homes, Chadian authorities said on Tuesday.
Sudan said it had no role in the weekend attacks.
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