US Ambassador to the UN John Danforth speaks to the media after a Security Council consultations meeting on Darfur (AFP)

ABUJA, September 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The UN Security Council is to vote Saturday, September 18, on a US-drafted resolution calling for slapping sanctions on Sudan , one day after the Darfur peace talks was adjourned for one month.

The move is seen by observers as a new bid by the US to “legitimize” its threats against several countries, chiefly Syria and Iran .

The United States circulated the latest Darfur draft on Friday, September 17, the fourth version of a proposal that hangs the possibility of sanctions on Sudan 's oil industry for Khartoum ’s inaction and alleged rights abuses in the troubled region of Darfur , reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The measure calls on Sudan to disarm and rein in the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, blamed by the US for acts of violence in the vast western region.

It also asks for an expanded presence of African Union monitors in Darfur and asks the United Nations to establish a commission of enquiry to determine if genocide has occurred.

“We believe there's language in it that they can accept,” a US diplomat told AFP.

Chinese Veto

But several nations have expressed concern that the sanctions threat on Khartoum might make the government uncooperative with the international community over the crisis.

China threatened to veto the measure but UN Secretary General Kofi Annan came out strongly behind the resolution on Thursday, September 16, saying the council needed to take immediate action.

“I have urged the Security Council to act on the draft resolution without delay, and to be as united as possible,” he said.

In addition to China , council members Algeria , Pakistan and Russia have expressed opposition to the resolution.

But the United States has repeatedly insisted that the threat of sanctions was needed to get Sudan to act.

A similar resolution on Sudan passed by the council in July 13-0, with China and Pakistan abstaining.

Nine votes are needed to pass a council resolution as long as there is no veto from one of the permanent members -- Britain , China , France, Russia and the United States .

Talks Postponed

A file photo for rebels of the Movement for Justice and Equality (MJE)

Meanwhile, talks between the Khartoum government and the two rebels of Darfur in the Nigerian capital Abuja ended Friday with no agreement, but AU officials said the two parties are to meet in October.

“As agreed with the parties, the talks shall resume shortly at a date to be communicated by the AU commission. These talks are scheduled to resume after one month,” AU chief mediator Hamid Algabid told reporters after a plenary session with delegates.

He said both the Sudanese government and the two rebel groups -- Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -- should use the one month break for “further consultations” on the areas they have yet to agree on.

Earlier, the Sudanese government had said the talks had been adjourned for one month.

“We are going on recess and during the recess, we are being promised that the AU represented by the current chairman, will undertake consultations with the two parties and also with the international partners who have shown interest in the issue of Darfur,” Sudan's deputy foreign minister Najeib Abdulwahab said.

When asked when the talks would resume, he said: "In a month's time", without being specific.

The three-week-old talks between the Sudanese government and the two rebel groups have yet to make meaningful progress because of disagreements on the key issues of security and disarmament.

The Sudanese government in a statement on Friday blamed the United States and the two rebel groups for deadlocking the talks, especially for refusing to sign the agreement on the humanitarian issue.

“It is regrettable that while the negotiators were fully engaged in the consideration of the security issue, and while they were making real progress, statements made by senior officials of the USA poisoned the talks environment and sent wrong signals to the rebels who immediately stiffened their positions,” the statement said.

Last week, US Secretary of State Colin Powell described the situation in Darfur as “a genocide” and blamed the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed for it.

In Need of Legitimacy

Observers believe that the US bids to get the UN Security Council approval for stepping up pressure on Sudan tells much on a recent general trend for Washington to add legitimacy to its other threats to some countries, such as Syria and Iran .

A UNSC resolution on Syria , co-sponsored by France , Britain and Germany , was approved earlier in this month despite Lebanon ’s protests that the move amounts to an interference in its own affairs and a transgression on its sovereignty.

Also, the United States has lobbied Europe at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors meeting for setting a deadline for Tehran to allay suspicions it is secretly making atomic weapons.

Washington is pushing for a two-thirds majority to issue an ultimatum to Iran , a step before the issue of Iran ’s nuclear weapons program reaches the UN Security Council.

However, the US recent bids to approach the international organization act as a grim reminder of the American-led invasion of Iraq .

The United States and Britain withdrew a draft resolution in the council in mid-March after it was clear there were not enough votes to back it up.

France had threatened to veto if UN inspectors were not given more time to account for Iraq 's alleged weapons of mass destruction, and two other veto-wielding countries China and Russia showed reservations.

Washington , however, said it would invade Iraq for destroying its weapons of mass destruction – none of which have been found more than one year and a half after the invasion.

On Wednesday, September 15, eighteen months after Iraq had been invaded and occupied, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the US-led onslaught “illegal” and contravenes the UN charter.

“Yes, if you wish. I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter from our point of view, from the chapter point of view, it was illegal,” Annan said in an interview with the BBC.