Sudan will abide by a United Nations resolution calling on Khartoum to restore security to the troubled Darfur region or face possible sanctions, although it regards the resolution as ”unfair”, according to a statement published in Khartoum on Sunday.
The Sudanese embassy in Washington said the government is committed to the resolution ”even though it was unfair and unjust to the Sudan”, according to the independent Al Sahafa newspaper.
The newspaper said the Sudanese Cabinet will hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to discuss the resolution, which holds out the threat of sanctions on the country’s vital oil industry.
The vote on the 15-member UN Security Council, taken in the presence of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, was 11-0, with China, Russia, Algeria and Pakistan abstaining.
Resolution 1564 warns that the Security Council ”will envisage” sanctions against Sudan’s oil industry, after consulting with the African Union, unless Khartoum makes good on its promise to protect the population of Darfur.
An estimated 50 000 people have died and 1,4-million more have been displaced in Darfur, where UN officials say Arab militias have carried out a scorched-earth campaign of ethnic cleansing against black residents.
The war broke out in February 2003 when rebels rose up against Khartoum to demand an end to the political and economic marginalisation of their region, peopled mainly by black Africans. — Sapa-AFP