Sudan pledges to combat militants

The Scotsman

1 July 2004

SUDAN’S government bowed to international pressure to tackle the growing humanitarian crisis in Darfur yesterday by promising to combat Arab militants and increase access for aid groups in the region.

The pledge came as Colin Powell, the United States Secretary of State, and Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, arrived in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, to discuss the situation.

Their visit coincided with US calls for a UN resolution that would impose an arms embargo and travel ban on the Janjaweed militia, blamed for attacks in Darfur that have forced more than one million people to flee their homes.

The proposed resolution stops short of imposing sanctions on Sudan’s government, which has been accused of supporting the Arab militia, but calls on it to cease all military attacks in Darfur, disarm and neutralise the Janjaweed and protect civilians in the region.

It says that, within 30 days of adoption, the UN will determine if sanctions should be imposed against "any other individuals or groups responsible for the commission of atrocities in Darfur".

"We will combat any militias and Janjaweed so that we secure the protection of civilians," the Sudanese foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said during a press conference with Mr Powell.

Meanwhile, aid workers said there was evidence the Janjaweed were using rape as a weapon of ethnic cleansing against black Africans.