The UN Security Council adopted a resolution yesterday threatening Sudan with oil sanctions if it did not stop atrocities in the Darfur region where Arab militias are terrorizing African villagers.
The vote was 11-0, with abstentions by China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria on the U.S.-drafted resolution that also calls for an expanded African Union monitoring force and an international probe into abuses, including genocide.
China, which exploits oil in Sudan, earlier threatened to veto the measure but said it did not want to hinder the African Union, which may send in 3,000 monitors and troops to investigate and serve as a bulwark against abuses.
But Beijing's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, served notice he would veto any future resolution that would impose sanctions. "That is the message," he told reporters.
Co-sponsoring the resolution with the United States were Britain, Germany, Spain, and Romania. Also voting in favor were France, Brazil, Chile, Angola, Benin and the Philippines.
US Ambassador Mr John Danforth, in a chilling recital of abuses in Darfur, said some 50,000 people had been killed, 1.3 million civilians had been uprooted from their homes and 2 million people were in need of relief.
"We act today because the Government of Sudan has failed to fully comply with our previous resolution, adopted on July 30th," Mr Danforth said. "The crisis in Darfur is uniquely grave. It is the largest humanitarian disaster in the world."
Mr Danforth accused the Sudanese government of bombing villages and sending in its soldiers to help militia, called Janjaweed, even when there was no activity from African rebels fighting the government.