Sudan's cabinet lashes out at UN resolution on Darfur

The Sudanese cabinet Sunday criticized a UN Security Council resolution which demanded the Sudanese government take action to solve the Darfur humanitarian crisis within 30 days, Foreign Minister Mostafa Othman Ismail said.

Addressing reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by First Vice President Ali Othman Taha, Ismail said however the government would abide by the agreement it had signed with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in early July.

The Security Council, in a resolution passed on Friday, demanded that the Sudanese government take action within 30 days to disarm the Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, blamed for creating a humanitarian crisis in the western region.

If Sudan fails to satisfy the council, the United Nations said it intends to consider economic and diplomatic sanctions.

The ultimatum set by the Security Council for disarming disarming the Janjaweed militia is "unreasonable and hard to implement as the UN-Sudanese deal set 90 days for implementation," he added.

The Security Council "disregarded the essential cause of the Darfur crisis, namely, the rebel movement" that carried weapons first, the minister said, "thereby, the rebels should be held responsible for the humanitarian crisis and instability in Darfur."

However, the Sudanese cabinet noted "some positive points" in the resolution, including its appraisal of the joint statement by the Sudanese government and Annan, the appeal for donors to offer essential assistance to Darfur, and the call for helping Sudan and neighboring Chad, Ismail said.

The cabinet charged the Foreign Affairs Ministry to table the government's notes on the UN Darfur resolution, he concluded.

Up to 50,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million people forced from their homes in Darfur, according to the United Nations.