SLEEP WELL TONIGHT, TRANZIS

Annan calls on UN council to sound warning on Sudan (Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press, November 19, 2004)

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council to issue ''the strongest warning" to all forces fighting in Sudan, saying that ending the 21-year civil war in the country's south would help halt a humanitarian catastrophe in its western Darfur region.

The council's meeting in the Kenyan capital, a rare appearance outside the United States, was intended to focus attention on two wars that have left millions dead or homeless.

Southern rebels have been fighting the government since 1983, and Darfur erupted into violence in February 2003.

''I regret to report that the security situation in Darfur continued to deteriorate despite the cease-fire agreement signed earlier," Annan told council members.

''When crimes on such a scale are being committed and a sovereign state appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this council."

John Danforth, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said holding the meeting in Nairobi would put ''the problems of Sudan at the center of the world stage."

''This is a very unusual thing for the Security Council to do," Danforth said. ''In the view of the Security Council, Sudan is important and establishing peace is so important to Africa." [...]

''Only a comprehensive political solution for the Sudan as a whole offers any longer-term hope," Annan said. ''The strongest warning to all the parties that are causing this suffering is essential."

But the council was expected to pass a resolution today that only promises it will monitor the situation in Sudan and ''take appropriate action" against any side that does not support the peace process.

While two previous resolutions have threatened sanctions against the government, Danforth said this one would offer positive reinforcement if steps toward peace are taken. ''There is nothing threatening about it," he said. ''What we want to do is point out that the international community is going to be there for Sudan in the long run."

The very long run, it appears.