Global Policy Forum

By Warren Hoge

The United States circulated a revision to its draft resolution about Sudan on Tuesday, seeking to overcome opposition on the Security Council by modifying a threat to put sanctions on the country's leaders and its oil industry if the government fails to curb violence in the Darfur region. The new version, which amended one debated by the Council's 15 member countries last week, maintained the possibility of sanctions but instead said the Council "shall consider" action, rather than "shall take" action for noncompliance.

The new draft retains language calling on Secretary General Kofi Annan to create an international commission to determine whether genocide has occurred in the country, and it strengthens the role of the African Union in trying to end what the United Nations has called the world's gravest relief crisis.

The resolution is the second proposed Security Council action this summer aimed at stopping the violence, which has left an estimated 50,000 black Africans dead at the hands of Arab militias and has forced 1.2 million people to flee their homes. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that the United States had concluded that the violence constituted genocide.

The first resolution on Sudan, also drafted by the Americans, passed the Security Council on July 30 by a vote of 13 to 0, with China and Pakistan abstaining. The newer proposal, with its focus on Sudan's oil, deepened opposition from China and Pakistan, both of which get oil supplies from Sudan. Sudan took in $1 billion in oil revenue in 2002, on production of 250,000 barrels a day.

Wang Guangya, the ambassador of China, who had said his country would veto the resolution unless the language was altered, had no immediate reaction to the revisions. But he suggested that any mention of sanctions on oil would still pose problems.

John C. Danforth, the American ambassador, said he hoped for a vote by Friday. He said the most important new emphases in the draft were "to maximize the African Union presence and to make sure the commitments are there for the humanitarian support." The United Nations says it has received barely half of the $531 million appeal for the Darfur relief effort.

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