UN urged to impose sanctions on Sudan's president

New york, Aug 15: The UN Security Council should impose sanctions on Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other top officials for blocking a U.N. bid for peace in the Darfur region, Human Rights Watch has said.

In a letter to the council, the New York-based group also called for an expansion of an arms embargo to cover all of Sudan, not just Darfur, and authorization of more than 20,000 U.N. troops, which the Khartoum government has not allowed into Darfur.

''Civilians in Darfur are in urgent need of protection and the Sudanese government admits it can't save them from the violence,'' Human Rights Watch Africa Director Peter Takirambudde said in a separate statement yesterday.

''The Council should impose personal, targeted sanctions on top Sudanese officials responsible for preventing U.N. troops from being sent to Darfur,'' he said. A Human Rights Watch spokeswoman said this included al-Bashir.

The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution in 2005 calling for a freeze on assets overseas and a travel ban on individuals who defy peace efforts, violate rights or conduct military flights over Darfur.

But it has only been used once -- in April -- to impose sanctions a Sudanese air force commander, a pro-government militia leader and two rebel commanders.

A longer list of people have been recommended for U.N.

sanctions by Britain and other nations, but other council members including the United States have opposed sanctions on other high-ranking Sudanese officials.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed a peacekeeping force of up to 24,000 troops and international police officers for Darfur, which suffered its bloodiest month in July since the conflict began.

The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when mostly non-Arab tribes took up arms over land and water resources, accusing the Arab-dominated government of neglect.

In turn, the government is accused of arming Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who ran a campaign of murder, rape, arson and plunder that drove more than 2 million villagers into squalid camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.

Infighting among rebel groups over the past month has also resulted in indiscriminate killings, rape, looting and the displacement of some 8,000 civilians, U.N. officials said in July.

Reuters