UN Council threatens Sudan, South Sudan with sanctions - Orlando Sentinel

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Wednesday that threatens Sudan and South Sudan with sanctions if the African neighbors fail to halt an escalating conflict and resume negotiations on disputes within two weeks.

The U.N. Council resolution on Sudan and South Sudan, former civil war foes that split when the south seceded last year, follows weeks of border fighting that have raised fears Khartoum and Juba could launch an all-out war after failing to resolve a string of disputes over oil revenues and border demarcation.

China, which has close trade relations with both countries, and Russia supported the resolution after several days of negotiations with council members during which they resisted the Western push for a threat of sanctions.

"We are always very cautious about the use and threat of sanctions," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong told the council.

Beijing has traditionally acted as Sudan's protector on the council and for years has shielded it from U.S. and European calls for sanctions due to its handling of conflicts in its western Darfur region and elsewhere in the country.

The resolution passed on Wednesday threatens both Sudan and South Sudan with "additional measures" under Article 41 of the U.N. charter, which allows the council to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on countries that ignore its decisions.

"We have some reservations ... but we'll support it because of the African Union," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters before the vote.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council had asked the U.N. Security Council to pass a legally binding resolution to demand that Khartoum and Juba comply with an AU demand that both sides cease hostilities, withdraw troops from disputed areas and resolve all outstanding disputes.

"The fighting must stop, and stop now," the U.S. Ambassador to theUnited Nations Susan Rice told the council.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)