SUDAN: A UN panel has proposed imposing sanctions against several senior Sudanese officials and rebel leaders for impeding peace efforts in Darfur, and has indicated that it is considering calling for punitive measures in the future against the presidents of Sudan and neighbouring Chad, according to a confidential annex of a publicly released report.
The panel recommends in the annex that Elzubier Bashir Taha, Sudan's interior minister; Salah Abdalla Gosh, its intelligence chief; and others be sanctioned for the crimes committed by their subordinates in Darfur, where government-backed militias have driven more than two million villagers from their homes.
It also calls for sanctions against three Darfurian rebel commanders of the Sudan Liberation Army, which has targeted civilians and aid workers during its insurgency against Khartoum.
The four-member panel's recommendations have faced resistance within the 15-nation UN security council, where China, Russia and Qatar have opposed efforts to impose sanctions on members of Khartoum's government, according to UN and Sudanese officials.
Those states have argued that the release of the annex could jeopardise the peace negotiations under way in Sudan.
"You cannot criminalise the leadership," said Yasir Abdelsalam, the charge d'affaires at Sudan's mission to the UN. Mr Abdelsalam said he could not comment on a report that his government has not yet seen. But he said: "It's nonsense for them to accuse my president of being involved in crimes in Darfur. It's more complicated than that."
The security council decided in March 2005 to establish the panel to monitor a UN arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze on individuals implicated in rights violations or the impeding of the Darfur peace process.
The panel's initial public findings charged that Sudan's two main rebel groups have received weapons, money and political support from Eritrea, Chad and Libya. It also accused Khartoum of continuing to support the militias in defiance of UN demands.
The violence in Darfur began in early 2003, when rebels took up arms against Khartoum, claiming discrimination against local tribes. - (LA Times/Washington Post service)