2007年VOA标准英语-UN Secretary-General Counsels Patience on Darfu

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (file photo)

U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon says resolving the crisis in Darfur is one of his highest priorities. He says he believes he has made some progress. He points to a recent commitment from the Sudanese government to let the United Nations deploy² several thousand peacekeepers to boost the African Union's 7,000-strong troop level in Darfur.

The secretary-general calls this the first positive signal in five months of serious negotiations³ with the Sudanese government and says he would like more time to build on this.

"I know that the patience level is going down on the part of the international community. There are some members of the Security Council, particularly the United States and United Kingdom, they have been discussing this - imposing sanctions against Sudan," he said. "But, my position is that when the moment of truth comes, they will know that they will not be faithful in implementing⁴ this commitment, then I would leave it to the Security Council members to take necessary measures against Sudan."

The Security Council already has imposed some limited restrictions⁵ on arms shipments to Sudan, the rebels and the Sudanese-backed janjaweed militia⁶.

A recently leaked U.N. report describes serious violations⁷ of the arms embargo⁸ by the government of Omar al-Bashir. It accuses the government of painting a false U.N. insignia on an air force plane, which then was used to deliver bombs. The report calls for more sanctions to be applied⁹ and for the imposition of a no-flight zone over Darfur to protect villages from air attack.

Last year, the United Nations and Khartoum agreed on a three-phase stabilization¹⁰ plan for Darfur. Secretary-General Ban says the two parties are in the second phase, which involves the deployment¹¹ of several thousand U.N. troops. He says he wants to see whether Sudan faithfully implements¹² its part of this agreement before considering more drastic action.

"Since I am new as a Secretary-General, even though you may not have full confidence on President Bashir of Sudan," he added. "But, since he has given me commitment and he has given me for the first time a positive agreement, then let me have some more political space so that I can continue this political process and discussions on this peacekeeping operations in Darfur."

The third and final phase of the plan calls for the deployment of a joint¹³ African Union/United Nations force of 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers. Until now, the Sudanese government has rejected this hybrid¹⁴ unit and said it would only allow a larger A.U. force with logistical support from the United Nations.

The war in Darfur has killed an estimated 200,000 people, displaced more than 2.5 million people and caused well over 200,000 others to seek shelter in neighboring Chad.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls this unacceptable.