UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council has decided to delay a vote on lifting five-year-old sanctions on Sudan because of the terrorist attacks on the United States, diplomats said Thursday.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, whose country holds the council presidency, said that Thursday's scheduled discussion on ending sanctions, which was to be followed by a Sept. 17 vote, had been postponed. The council would decide at a future date when to consider the issue again, he said.
The United States had insisted that Sudan demonstrate it was no longer providing sanctuary to terrorist groups before lifting sanctions. However, Washington has been working with Sudan to address concerns about the nation's alleged backing of terrorism. (Read photo caption below)
Colombia's U.N. Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso said council member had been told the Americans were ready to lift sanctions.
The sanctions order U.N. members to reduce Sudan's diplomatic presence in their countries, to restrict the movement of its officials, and ban its planes. The sanctions remain on the books, but have never been enforced.
The measures were intended to pressure Sudan to hand over gunmen who opened fire on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's car on June 26, 1995, while he was visiting Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The suspects were believed to have fled to Sudan.
Last month, an official in the Bush administration said U.S. counterterrorism experts had concluded the gunmen are no longer in Sudan and do not enjoy the support of the government.
The council also postponed a scheduled discussion of violence in Burundi because former South African President Nelson Mandela, a peace mediator in the conflict, was not able to come to New York. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said this was because of medical treatment.
PHOTO CAPTION:
U.S. President George W. Bush (R) smiles with Secretary of State Colin Powell (L) after announcing that former Senator John Danforth (C) (R-Mo) will be the envoy to the Sudan, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington September 6, 2001. Bush on Thursday appointed Danforth as special envoy to Sudan to try to win support for a peace initiative in the oil-rich country wracked by decades of civil war. REUTERS/William Philpott