UN Security Council meeting over Darfur

The secretary general of the UN Kofi Annan has called for an emergency meeting to the UN Security Council at the ambassadorial level in order to discuss the crisis in Darfur district and to dispatch a peace keeping force to the south of Sudan.

The spokesman for the UN Fred Eckhard said that Annan's call stems from the concept that measures taken in the district, which is situated to the west of Sudan, are not enough to maintain the security conditions.

He expressed his conviction that the UN secretary general will discuss with the council's members available practical options to halt fighting in Darfur, as well as his personal proposal over sending a mission to keep peace in southern Sudan.

The UN Security Council discussed a comprehensive resolution since three weeks that will include consent to send a peace keeping forces of 10,000 soldiers to southern Sudan. It will also consider sanctions on persons that committed crimes in Darfur including travel embargo and the freezing of assets.

In this regard, the UN Security Council will decide whether an international court should consider cases against what is suspected as human rights violations in Darfur or not. Majority of the council members prefer the new International Criminal Court in the Hague to consider these issues. But the USA opposes this measure, while both China and Algeria reject sending the issue to the court.