SUDAN: Human rights groups and aid agencies have condemned the United Nations's latest resolution on Sudan, passed in Nairobi yesterday, as weak and ineffective. They have warned that the people of Darfur in west Sudan have been forgotten while efforts concentrate on securing peace in the south.
The 15-member council passed unanimously the resolution calling for an end to violence and for perpetrators of human rights abuses to be brought to justice. It also promises aid and assistance if the government and southern rebels can finalise a peace agreement.
Although a resolution passed in July gave the Sudanese government 30 days to disarm the Janjaweed, the latest makes no specific mention of the commitment.
The Security Council met during a high-profile session in Nairobi, its first meeting outside New York in 14 years. It was designed to focus international attention on a 21-year civil war in the south, where 2 million people have been killed, and on human rights abuses committed in Darfur.
Representatives of the Sudanese government and southern rebels yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding, committing both parties to agree a final peace settlement by the end of the year. However, there is scepticism that the December 31st deadline will be met, despite the offer of aid.
A similar agreement secured last year by Mr Colin Powell, then US secretary of state, was first reinterpreted as an aspiration and then disappeared altogether.
Ms Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch, accused the UN of going soft on Darfur to coax the Sudanese government into signing up to peace in the south. "Every time this happens, thousands of people will die," she said, "hundreds of thousands of people will be displaced, villages burned. In terms of Darfur this is a step backward.
"We need to keep pressure on the government, but because there is no specific mention of disarming the Janjaweed, they will think they can get away with it."
Mr James Dyson, of Amnesty International, said time was running out for the people of Darfur.
"We consider this a very weak, disappointing resolution. It promises to take action if obligations are not met but this is exactly what happened in two previous resolutions. We really needed some action this time."
Without an arms embargo, he added, the prospect of peace in the South remained slim.
Ms Caroline Nursey of Oxfam, said 200,000 people had been cut off from aid by renewed violence in Darfur during the past month. The resolution, she said, had done nothing to help them.
"While welcome progress has been made on the north-south peace deal, travel agents will have more to show from this meeting that the people of Darfur."
Members of the Security Council said reaching a settlement in the south was a vital first step in securing peace in Darfur.
Mr Emyr Jones Parry, the British ambassador to the UN, said the resolution should be viewed alongside previous resolutions, which did refer specifically to the Janjaweed.
"We interpret this resolution as reiterating the security council's determination to ensure that all sides in Darfur fulfil their obligations," he said. "We remind them of the prospect of measures under article 41 of the charter for those who do not comply."
Article 41 allows the security council to impose the "complete or partial interruption of economic relations".