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UN imposes sanctions on four Sudanese over Darfur

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Tuesday imposing the first sanctions concerning the violence that has killed more than 200,000 villagers and driven 2 million people from their homes in Darfur in western Sudan.

Twelve members of the 15-nation council voted in favor of the US-drafted measure, which will ban travel by four Sudanese accused of war crimes and freeze their assets. Three countries -- China, Qatar, and Russia -- abstained.

"I think today's sanction resolution shows that the Security Council is serious, that its resolutions have to be complied with, that it is prepared to take enforcement steps if they are not complied with," said John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN.

Qatar, the lone Arab nation on the council, said it had not seen "proof" to justify sanctions.

China and Russia, each a permanent member that could have vetoed the proposal, said the timing was wrong, coming just days before a Sunday deadline set by the council for Sudan and the Darfur rebels to reach an agreement to end their conflict. The peace talks are being held in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

"In our view, there is the feeling that the adoption of this resolution might have a negative impact on the prospects for concluding a peace agreement within the time period," Konstantin Dolgov, the deputy Russian ambassador, said.

Wang Guangya (王光亞), the Chinese ambassador, said that any Security Council action "should focus on promoting, assisting, and facilitating rather than affecting, and interfering in, the peace talks."

Bolton disagreed, saying, "Far from interfering in the peace process in Abuja, it will strengthen that process."

The resolution identified the four men as: Major General Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan, a Sudanese air force officer accused of helping the government-backed militias commit atrocities; Sheikh Musa Hilal, chief of an Arab tribe and a militia leader; Adam Yacub Shant, a commander of Sudanese Liberation Army forces that broke a ceasefire to attack government troops; and Gabril Abdul Kareem Badri, the commander of another rebel force, which kidnapped and threatened African Union troops.
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