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UNITED NATIONS, June 30: A US-drafted Security Council resolution on Wednesday proposed an arms and travel embargo on Sudan's Janjaweed militia, blamed for killings, pillaging , rape and driving villagers from their homes in the Darfur region.
The draft resolution does not take any action against the Khartoum government, accused of supporting the militia. But diplomats said there was an implied threat of expanding the sanctions if there were no improvement.
The measure says that within 30 days of adoption, the council would determine whether sanctions should be applied "to any other individuals or groups responsibility for the commission of atrocities in Darfur."
The Janjaweed are Arab militias who have driven black African villagers off the land in a campaign of ethnic cleansing which human rights groups say is verging on attempted genocide. The draft would impose bans on weapons for the Janjaweed and travel sanctions on militia members, according to a list council members would compile.
POWELL: US Secretary of State Colin Powell issued a blunt call to Sudanese leaders on Tuesday to take "action now" to end the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur or face the possibility of UN sanctions.
Powell spelt out three main demands of the Khartoum government: to rein in state-sponsored Arab militias accused of massive human rights abuses, open access to Darfur for humanitarian organizations, and start negotiations with the region's two ethnic minority rebel movements.
More than 10,000 people have died in Darfur and more than a million have been driven from their homes since the revolt against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum broke out among the indigenous minorities in February 2003.
Washington has threatened Khartoum with sanctions over the 16-month-old conflict, which the United Nations has labelled the world's worst current humanitarian crisis. -AFP
