UN 'could've been tougher'

2004-09-20 11:25

Khartoum - President Omar al-Beshir said the United Nations Security Council resolution on crisis-wracked Darfur could have been far tougher on the Sudanese government, Al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Monday.

The United States put pressure on fellow Security Council member states ahead of Saturday's vote "but failed, and the resolution came out less bad than it (Washington) had wanted", Beshir said in a speech in Gezira State, central Sudan.

He thanked "the true friends who stood up in the face of the unfair draft resolution", singling out Algeria, China, Pakistan and Russia which abstained in the vote.

Sudan has condemned the resolution urging Khartoum to restore security to the vast Darfur region in the west of the country as "unfair" but said it would comply with the UN's demands.

Sanctions possible

Resolution 1564 warns that the Security Council "will envisage" sanctions against Sudan's oil industry unless Khartoum makes good on its promise to protect the population of Darfur.

The resolution was sponsored by the United States, which says Khartoum and its proxy Arab militias are guilty of genocide in Darfur.

An estimated 50 000 people have died and 1.4 million been displaced in Darfur, where UN officials say pro-government Janjaweed militias have carried out a scorched-earth campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab minorities.

"The government is prepared for all possibilities and does not fear the Security Council resolution and the United Nations, and it will not surrender or kneel down except to Allah," Al-Anbaa quoted Beshir as saying.

But the president pledged his government would pursue its peace efforts despite last week's failure of negotiations in Abuja with Darfur rebels that he blamed on the UN resolution. -AFP

- SAPA