By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Monday, April 24, 2006; 10:02 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States said it was likely to call for a vote Tuesday on a resolution to impose the first-ever sanctions on participants in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan, despite opposition from Russia and China.
The two opposing nations reiterated Monday that sanctions on the four men could complicate peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, to end the three-year conflict in Darfur. The African Union, which is mediating the talks, has set an April 30 deadline for a peace deal.
If approved, the sanctions would be the first imposed by the U.N. Security Council since it adopted a resolution in March 2005 authorizing an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals who defy peace efforts, violate international human rights law, or are responsible for military overflights in Darfur.
"We very well could vote tomorrow," Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said Monday evening.
Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador Konstantin Dolgov and China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said they had not yet received instructions on how to vote.
"We think that we should not take any steps which could have a negative bearing on the Abuja peace talks," Dolgov said. "But at the same time, decisions that have been previously taken by the council, they are to be implemented. It's a matter of how and when."
Wang said China wants "nothing until Abuja talks" are completed.
Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in the Darfur region erupted into large-scale violence in early 2003 when ethnic African tribes took up arms, accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect. The government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages _ a charge it denies.
The conflict has caused about 180,000 deaths _ most from disease and hunger _ and displaced 2 million people.
The draft resolution names four men who would face sanctions:
_ Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan, former commander of the Sudanese air force's western region. Council diplomats said he coordinated operations between government forces and the Janjaweed which resulted in scores of attacks on non-Arab villages.
_ Sheikh Musa Hilal, chief of the Jalul tribe and a Janjaweed leader who is accused of allowing some of the worst atrocities _ including rape, robbery and the burning of villages _ to occur under his command, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
_ Adam Yacub Shant, a commander in the rebel Sudan Liberation Army. Diplomats said he violated the ceasefire in July 2005 by ordering SLA soldiers to attack government forces in Darfur.
_ Gabril Abdul Kareem Badri, a commander of the rebel National Movement for Reform and Development. Diplomats accused him of kidnapping members of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur in October 2005.