US prepares fresh UN resolution on Darfur

The United States is expected to distribute a revised version of its UN resolution on Sudan but retain a threat of sanctions …

The United States is expected to distribute a revised version of its UN resolution on Sudan but retain a threat of sanctions if Sudan does not stop atrocities in its Darfur region.

Facing opposition from China, Russia, Algeria, Pakistan, and other members of the 15-nation Security Council, US Ambassador John Danforth still hopes to get a resolution adopted this week - before presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers address the UN General Assembly next week.

The new draft is expected to acknowledge in more detail Khartoum's co-operation on relief aid and add some critical sentences on rebel groups challenging the Sudan government, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said.

But he said pressure had to continue against Khartoum so it would disarm Arab militia, called Janjaweed, accused of killings, rape and uprooting African villagers. More than 1 million people have been driven out of their homes.

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The draft Washington submitted last Wednesday threatens to consider sanctions on Sudan's oil industry if Khartoum fails to disarm the Janjaweed or fails to co-operate with a deployment of thousands of African Union monitors in Darfur .

Sudan is also under pressure to accept a UN proposal to expand a small Africa Union monitoring force to about 3,000 observers and soldiers to guard them.

The US draft also calls on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish a commission that would determine whether crimes in Darfur amounted to genocide. US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week said acts of genocide had been committed, but no other country has gone that far.