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Russia, China Oppose Sanctions in Sudan
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 17, 7:39 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS - In a blow to Britain and the United States, Russia and China on Monday blocked proposed sanctions against four Sudanese accused of interfering with peace efforts and violating human rights in Darfur.
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The sanctions, proposed by Britain and strongly supported by the United States, would have been the first imposed by the
U.N. Security Council since it authorized an asset freeze and travel ban in March 2005 on individuals who defy peace efforts and violate international human rights law in the western Sudanese region.
Russia and China's U.N. ambassadors said the timing of the sanctions proposal could hamper negotiations are underway in Abuja, Nigeria, to end the three-year conflict in Darfur, which has left about 180,000 dead most from disease and hunger and displaced another 2 million from their homes.
The Security Council's sanctions committee on Sudan had circulated the four names and council members had until Monday afternoon to object.
The names have not been made public but council diplomats said they include one member of the Sudanese government, two rebel figures, and a member of the government-backed Janjaweed militia. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the list has not been released.
China sent a letter Monday calling for further discussions in the sanctions committee that would take account of an April 30 African Union deadline for a peace agreement, a position backed by Russia in a phone call. The Security Council has endorsed the date set by the African Union, which is mediating the talks.
Earlier, Qatar, the only Arab nation on the council, had expressed reservations about the list, council diplomats said.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters that Washington wants quick action and asked for a council meeting late Monday to discuss the sanctions.
He said the United States was prepared to circulate a draft resolution at the meeting that would name the four Sudanese and impose sanctions against them. If the resolution is put to a vote, Russia or China would be forced to use their veto power to block it.
"Our view is that these sanctions proceedings have been pending for a while ... and we don't see any reason to delay it," Bolton said.
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Andrey Denisov, said the council should follow the doctors' Hippocratic Oath of first doing no harm, in this case, "to that very fragile process in Sudan."
"Don't antagonize," he said. "Don't impose more tensions into the issue."
China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya reiterated Beijing's long-standing opposition to sanctions as unhelpful to resolving conflicts.
"China believes that this is not the right moment since the Abuja negotiations are under way and we expect progress on that," Wang said. "At this sensitive moment, to publish this list will have a negative effect on the negotiations there."
Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in the Darfur region erupted into large-scale violence in early 2003 when ethnic African tribes took up arms, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect. The government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages a charge it denies.
A U.N. panel that investigated the Darfur conflict recommended last year that 51 people be prosecuted for war crimes, including senior government officials. But council members have not been able to agree on any names to put on a U.N. sanctions list.
The British list was the first attempt and it drew support from other council members, including Argentina, Denmark, France, Japan, Peru and Slovakia.
