Sudanese slated for UN sanctions

UNITED NATIONS - Britain and the United States have announced that four Sudanese were slated for United Nations sanctions over war crimes in Darfur but Russia and China signalled disapproval.

The four, whittled down from a longer British list, includes one Sudanese government official, one pro-government militia member, and two rebel leaders, diplomats said.

"We have an agreed-upon list at the moment," with six or seven co-sponsors, said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

The names of the four were not disclosed and are a response to a Security Council resolution adopted more than a year ago calling for a travel ban and an assets freeze on individuals responsible for impeding the peace process and contributing to human rights violations.

All 15 members of a Security Council sanctions committee have to approve or disapprove by Monday but Russia, China and Qatar, the only Arab member of the council, are expected to object.

"Human rights abuses should be judged. It is clear," Russia's UN ambassador, Andrei Denisov, told reporters.

"But at the same time, the political process must not be interrupted and it is very fragile in Sudan," Denisov said.

China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, made similar comments last week.

US Ambassador John Bolton told reporters, "That is really a down payment on what we expect will be additional sanctions."

The United States, according to officials in Washington and UN diplomats, last week hesitated in naming more Sudan government officials.

But Bolton said, "This is not something that you can do willy-nilly. You have to, at least under our system, go through acquiring the necessary evidence."

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States strongly believed the time had come to designate individuals for targeted sanctions.

"We are determined to pursue the designation of appropriate individuals from all parties involved in the violence in Darfur," he said. "This is going to be a rolling process."

The Darfur conflict erupted in early 2003 when mostly non-Arab tribes took up arms accusing the Arab-dominated Khartoum government of neglect.

The government retaliated by arming mainly Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who began a campaign of murder, rape, arson and plunder that drove 2 million villagers into squalid camps. Khartoum denies responsibility.

The main bulwark against abuses in Darfur is the cash-strapped African Union which, under pressure from its Arab members who side with Khartoum, is hesitating to merge its 7,000 troops with a proposed UN force.

Sudan has not consented to an enlarged military operation, refused a Darfur visit by the UN humanitarian coordinator, Jan Egeland, a Norwegian, and then banned the Norwegian Refugee Council that cared for 90,000 people driven from their homes.

Consequently, UN military experts have not yet asked for visas for an assessment mission for Darfur. Hedi Annabi, an assistant secretary-general for UN peacekeeping, is en route to Khartoum to discuss the issue, UN officials said.

McCormack said also said NATO was looking "at what it might do" and he expected Darfur to be discussed at a NATO ministerial meeting in two weeks.

NATO, however, is not expected to enter Darfur as a unit. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked the alliance to help with logistics, overhead flight and mobile units. So far European trainers aiding the African Union have not been allowed to enter Darfur itself.

- REUTERS