United States Might Push for New U.N. Sanctions Against Sudan
07 June 2007
Khartoum must agree quickly to U.N.-AU force in Darfur, U.S. envoy says
United Nations -- The United States will press for new international sanctions against Sudan if the U.N. Security Council cannot obtain agreement from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on an African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for Darfur, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said June 7.
Darfur is one of the Security Council's major concerns, and a council mission will be visiting five African nations, including Sudan, the week of June 14. Topping the council's agenda with Sudan are the hybrid U.N.-AU peacekeeping operation for Darfur and the arrest of two suspected war criminals indicted by the International Criminal Court.
After a Security Council meeting, Khalilzad said, "We believe that the visit of the Security Council to Sudan offers the opportunity to come to closure" on the U.N.-AU force.
"If the Sudanese do not come to an agreement quickly, we intend to push for more multinational sanctions," which could include a no-fly zone over Darfur, the U.S. ambassador said.
"Time is running out, people continue to suffer. They now have this U.N.-AU plan. They need to come to accepting it so we can begin to address seriously the problems of the area. Agreement is the first important step; but, of course, given [Sudan's] record we also want to make sure that they will implement what they agree to," Khalilzad said.
On June 6 the U.N. and the AU came to a final agreement on the command structure of the 23,000-strong joint military peacekeeping operation that will help the beleaguered 7,000-troop AU force currently in the province. The hybrid operation will be the final phase of a three-step plan to bolster the AU operation. (See related article.)
Sudan has to agree to the U.N.-AU plan "as quickly as possible," Khalilzad said.
The U.S. envoy said three issues need to be addressed by the council when it is in Sudan: the hybrid peacekeeping force, access to Darfur by humanitarian aid groups as well as protection for aid workers, and a political settlement between the government and rebel groups.
The Sudanese government also must turn over Ahmed Haroun, secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, and Ali Kosheib, a Jingaweit leader, who were indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in May, Khalilzad said.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also urged the Security Council to ensure the two Sudanese are turned over to the court to face justice. He asked that the issue be brought up during the council's Sudan visit.
"Haroun was responsible for the commission of incredible, massive atrocities against people in Darfur ... and now today he is the minister of humanitarian affairs. These people who were his victims are in his hands. This is unacceptable. We have to stop him. He has to be arrested," Moreno-Ocampo told journalists after his meeting with the Security Council June 7.
Moreno-Ocampo said that ICC investigators found witnesses to the crimes of Haroun and Kosheib in 17 countries.
"We have eyewitnesses who saw Kosheib on his horse giving instructions in each of the cases. I have eyewitnesses who saw Kosheib involved in the execution of prisoners, the rape of women," the prosecutor said.
Calling Haroun "a critical element in the massive crimes committed in Darfur," Moreno-Ocampo said: "I have eyewitnesses who saw Haroun delivering weapons in his own helicopter to militia Jingaweit in three different states in Darfur. I have eyewitnesses who saw Haroun taking money from a box and paying the militia Jingaweit in cash. I have eyewitnesses who saw Haroun inciting the militia Jingaweit to commit crimes to dilute the population."
Haroun, he said, "was the one who coordinated all the activities of all police and intelligence. No crime was committed there without his intervention."
Haroun formerly was deputy interior minister in charge of Darfur.
Under the U.N. Charter, Sudan has an obligation to arrest the two men, Moreno-Ocampo said. If the two travel outside Sudan, they are to be arrested by any country" they visit. "Their destiny is the dock in The Hague," he said.
The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in March 2005. (See related article.)
For more information on U.S. policy, see Darfur Humanitarian Emergency.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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