SUDAN: Security Council Studies Assessment Report

SUDAN: Security Council Studies Assessment Report Ahead Of Meeting On Darfur

The Security Council's 15 members have received a United Nations report assessing the latest developments in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan, a day before the senior UN envoy to the country briefs them on what progress Khartoum has made on its pledges to restore security there and disarm the militias accused of brutal attacks.

UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters today at UN Headquarters that the report, which examines implementation of the Council's latest resolution on Sudan, has been circulated to the members - but not officially made public - ahead of tomorrow's open meeting on Darfur.

At Thursday's meeting Jan Pronk, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, will brief the Council on the situation in Darfur following his visit last week to the troubled region.

More than 1.2 million people are internally displaced within Darfur and another 200,000 Sudanese live as refugees in Chad because of attacks by the Janjaweed militias and fighting between the Government and two rebel groups.

On 30 July the Council adopted Resolution 1556, which stated it may take action against Khartoum under Article 41 of the UN Charter if the authorities do not show after 30 days that they are fulfilling earlier promises to the UN to disarm the Janjaweed and restore security.

Article 41 measures include unspecified economic penalties and the severing of diplomatic relations. The Council's 30-day deadline expired on Monday.

In other developments on Sudan:

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