Security Council extends mandate for the panel monitoring Sudan's sanctions

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday extended the mandate of the panel of experts monitoring violations of the UN arms embargo in Darfur in west of Sudan, for one year.

But representatives expressed concern over non-compliance with sanctions it imposed on the country.

“We have an arms embargo in place for 11 years and year after year we receive report after report of arms flowing illegally into Darfur. We have created a panel of experts to provide this kind of reporting, and yet when they do, a member of this Council blocks the report from being published because its findings are so disturbing,” said Samantha Power, a permanent representative of the United States to the UN, said.

In a unanimously adopted resolution at the UN headquarters, the council said it would review the mandate in February 2017.

The resolution places a travel ban and asset freeze on those “impeding the peace process” in Darfur.

The council also requested the panel of experts to provide a mid-term update on its work to the sanctions committee no later than 12 August 2016, and to submit a final report to the Council by Jan. 13, 2017.

Otherwise, the resolution is identical to last year’s resolution on the Sudan panel of experts.

Darfur has been engulfed by fighting between rebel groups and government forces since 2003.

About 300,000 have been killed and more than 2.5 million people displaced due to the violence.