SUDAN: The Sudanese government and southern rebels have told the UN Security Council not to make prosecuting war criminals its first priority, and said development aid should be provided even before the Darfur conflict ends.
Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, Sudan's vice president, and John Garang, leader of the main southern Sudanese rebel group, were addressing the council on an agreement they signed last month ending a 21-year-old civil war in the south of the sprawling east African state.
Mr Taha, in charge of negotiations on Darfur in the country's western region, and Mr Garang, who will become a vice president, presented political proposals meant to stop pro-government militia from killing, raping and robbing the Darfur people.
Mr Garang also proposed a new force of some 15,000 to 30,000 troops to keep peace in Darfur - a third from the government, a third from his Sudanese People's Liberation Army and the rest from the African Union and others.
All sides, including UN officials, exhibited frustration in the ongoing conflict with no agreed clear course of action.
The 15-nation Security Council is currently debating sanctions against those responsible for the violence that has killed at least 70,000 people and made two million homeless.
The council also is considering trials for perpetrators of atrocities on a sealed list drawn up by a UN-appointed commission, which last week found evidence of heinous crimes in Darfur but stopped short of labelling the violence genocide.
Mr Taha rejected any outside tribunal dealing with Sudanese citizens and said his government had its own commission that would implement recommendations of the UN inquiry.
He said bringing the accused to justice "should not distract us from the need to realise peace first and to put an end to all hostilities".
Mr Garang said the militia, once armed by the government and known as Janjaweed, needed to be punished - but only after peace was achieved. Otherwise "that would be putting the cart before the horse, in which case both the cart and the horse would not move and they would go nowhere".
Both men pleaded with the council to push for international development aid as promised when a north-south peace agreement was signed. Some nations, including the United States, have said the violence in Darfur had to end first. - (Reuters)