Violence prompts threat of sanctions

The Sudanese government insists it is trying to stop the militias.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council threatened Sudan on Friday with diplomatic and economic punishment unless the government fulfills a pledge to disarm Arab militias responsible for atrocities in the Darfur region, and it gave Khartoum 30 days to prove itself.
The Sudanese government swiftly rejected the U.S.-drafted resolution, which was approved 13-0, with China and Pakistan abstaining. Sudan has insisted it is trying to curb the militias and that threats of sanctions would not help.
"Sudan expresses its deep sorrow that the issue of Darfur has quickly entered the Security Council and has been hijacked from its regional arena," Information Minister El-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik said after the vote.
Deaths and displacement
At least 30,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in a 17-month conflict in Darfur, where pro-government Arab militias known as Janjaweed have waged a brutal campaign to drive out black African farmers, torching villages, gunning down residents and raping women. The U.S. Congress has called the campaign genocide.
The violence has continued despite a cease-fire called in July and Sudanese promises of a crackdown. According to an African Union monitoring team, militias "believed to be Janjaweed" chained civilians together and set them on fire in an attack on a village earlier this month.
The United States didn't specify what sanctions might be considered but said the resolution was a tough warning to Sudan.
"The resolution in stern and unambiguous terms puts the Sudanese government on notice," that it must fulfill its commitments, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said. "Sudan must know that serious measures -- international sanctions -- are looming if the government refuses to do so."
Defended efforts
Sudan defended its efforts and said what it really needed from the international community was more humanitarian assistance.
"Sudan reaffirms its absolute rejection of threats," Malik said in reference to the talk of sanctions and military intervention that has occurred in Western capitals since it became obvious that the government was failing to curb the Janjaweed.
To win support on the council, the United States revised its resolution four times, finally dropping the use of the word "sanctions" after several countries objected to the explicit threat.
The resolution instead referred to an article of the U.N. charter that threatens measures including "complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication and the severance of diplomatic relations."
Still, the United States and the resolution's supporters insisted the sanctions threat remained even if the word did not. France, Spain, Britain, Chile, Germany and Romania co-sponsored the resolution.
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