SUDAN: The US said yesterday Sudan had only days to stop the atrocities in Darfur or face what could be the first batch of sanctions by the UN Security Council.
Mr John Danforth, the new US ambassador in his first day on the job, said members would begin negotiations today on a US-drafted resolution that imposes an arms and travel ban on militia leaders, accused of pillaging, raping and uprooting millions of black African villagers.
"We are talking about days. We are talking about this week.This is a matter of urgency," he told reporters.
The resolution, which threatens to escalate the sanctions within 30 days if results are not evident, could be expanded now to include some bans against Khartoum, diplomats said. "Thirty days is too long for the government to act," Mr Danforth said. "Sudan is clearly on a short leash."
African leaders yesterday considered expanding the mandate of a planned African Union troop deployment in Darfur to protect a million civilians who have fled Arab militias.
The African Union's Peace and Security Council has already recommended sending 300 armed soldiers to Darfur to protect 60 AU officials monitoring a shaky ceasefire signed between the Sudanese government and rebels in April.
The troops were also to patrol the overcrowded refugee camps and border areas between Sudan and Chad to give confidence to hundreds of thousands of people caught up in widespread looting and burning of villages by Arab "Janjaweed" militia in Sudan's far west. But under the new proposal being considered by African leaders at a summit yesterday, the AU troops would have an explicit mandate to protect the civilians, raising the prospect of clashes with the militia, which rights groups have accused Khartoum of arming. Sudan denies the charge and says it has begun disarming the militia.
The AU's Peace and Security Council urged Khartoum yesterday to "neutralise" the Janjaweed militia but said the bloodshed was not a genocide, a term used by some rights groups.
The ruling was immediately proclaimed as a victory by the Sudanese government, which has long denied that the Arab militia's attacks on African civilians are part of a government-backed extermination campaign.
"The decision showed quite clearly that there is no genocide. We are happy about it, although we admit that there is a desperate humanitarian need," Foreign Minister Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail said.
The peacemaking council demanded that all those responsible for killings and destruction of homes be brought to justice.
"Even though the crisis in Darfur is grave, with unacceptable levels of deaths, human suffering and destruction of homes and infrastructure, the situation cannot be described as a genocide," the AU said. - (Reuters)