ADDIS ABABA, 1 August 2004 — Sudan said yesterday it would comply with a UN resolution threatening it with sanctions if it failed to restore security in the crisis-hit Darfur region.
“Sudan is not happy with the (UN) Security Council resolution, but we will comply with it to the best of our ability,” Osman Said, Sudan’s ambassador to the African Union, told a news conference in Ethiopia.
“Because should we fail to do so, we know our enemies would not hesitate to take other measures against our country,” he added, in remarks that backed down from Sudan’s initial rejection of the vote.
“Sudan accepts the decision of the (UN) Security Council on Darfur, because it is a member of the United Nations and has no other option. Sudan is not going to be another Israel, which has no respect for the decision of the world body,” Said added.
However, Said lashed out at the United States which drafted the resolution giving Khartoum 30 days to disarm and prosecute marauding Arab militia or face sanctions.
“Sudan completely rejects the motive of the US government in sponsoring the resolution because it has nothing to do with the welfare of the people of Darfur or of Africa,” he said.
He said US interest in arid, impoverished Darfur had more to do with winning the black vote in November’s US presidential election.
Instead, he called on the 53-member AU to mediate a solution to the Darfur problem. “This is an African problem and it should be solved by Africans,” Said said.
In Kuwait, US Secretary of State Colin Powell vowed to forge ahead with efforts to end the conflict in Darfur. “They can say whatever they wish to say. The Security Council has spoken in rather strong vote,” Powell told reporters in Kuwait City as he wrapped up a swing through the Middle East.
“The issue is now to move forward and to help the suffering people of Darfur. I hope the Sudanese government will use the time provided in the resolution to do everything it can to bring the Janjaweed under control,” he said.
The UN Security Council on Friday gave Sudan 30 days to rein in the pro-government Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, blamed for atrocities in Darfur, or face international action. Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members backed the text which carries an implicit threat of sanctions against Khartoum. China and Pakistan abstained.
“The resolution concentrated on disarming the Janjaweed only, instead of calling for disarming all other militias simultaneously,” Abdel Basit Sabdarat, minister for parliamentary relations, told Sudan’s Al-Ayam daily.
However, he said Khartoum was “serious about solving the Darfur problem and has actually begun trying the Janjaweed and investigating the accusations.”
The 53-member AU appeared set to dispatch a force of some 300 troops to Darfur next week to protect AU monitors overseeing a shaky cease-fire between Khartoum and Darfur’s two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Movement for Justice and Equality.
Powell voiced his strong support for the AU initiative to settle a conflict that has already claimed up to 50,000 lives.
“I hope the African Union will move forward aggressively as they have said they would, in order to help these people and help to restore a sense of security,” he said.
