UN puts sanctions on 4 Sudanese for Darfur war

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Tuesday on four Sudanese accused of abuses in the Darfur conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives and uprooted at least 2 million people.

The vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution was 12 to 0 with three abstentions -- Russia, China and Qatar, the only Arab member of the 15-nation council.

The sanctions, a travel ban and a freeze on assets abroad, were the first adopted against individuals involved in the Darfur conflict. They were authorized by the Security Council a year ago against people who thwart peace efforts, violate human rights or conduct military flights over Darfur.

The four men, whittled down from a longer British list, are a Sudan air force commander, a pro-government militia leader, and two rebel commanders. But no top Sudanese leader was included.

Russia and China believe the sanctions could interfere with the 2-year-old Darfur peace talks between the Khartoum government and two rebels groups, conducted in Abuja, Nigeria.

But after three African council members supported the resolution, they did not use their veto power to kill it.

"As a matter of political principal, China always has difficulties with regard to sanctions," Beijing's U.N. ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters.

"So therefore China will never use sanctions nor we will accept any sanctions imposed on China."

In contrast, U.S., British and French ambassadors said the sanctions would aid the Abuja talks between the Khartoum government and two rebel groups by showing that violators did not have immunity.

"The council's reputation is at stake and we believe this will actually help the Abuja process to demonstrate that impunity cannot be allowed to continue," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry. "These atrocities have to come to an end."

Jones Parry told reporters he would lead a Security Council mission to Khartoum and Darfur in early June.

But any negotiations with the Sudan government and the council are bound to be fraught with difficulties. Khartoum has refused to allow a U.N. military team into Darfur to plan for an eventual peacekeeping operation that would absorb the under-financed African Union force of 7,000.