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China, backed by Russia, blocked Tuesday an offer to the UN Security Council to condemn the killing of civilians in Sudan and urge world powers to halt the violence immediately. indicated diplomats.
During a closed-door council meeting, Britain and Germany issued a press release that allegedly called on Sudanese military leaders and protesters to "continue to work together to find a solution." consensual to the current crisis ", according to the project examined by AFP.
But China strongly opposed the proposed text as Russia insisted that the Council wait for a response from the African Union, diplomats said.
Deputy Russian Ambbadador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the proposed statement was "unbalanced" and stressed the need to be "very careful in this situation".
"We do not want to promote an unbalanced statement, it could simply spoil the situation," Polyanskiy told reporters after the two-hour meeting.
The council met a day after nearly 40 people were killed when security forces put an end to a week – long sit – in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum. The demonstrators demanded the end of the military regime.
The army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced Tuesday that he was scrapping a three-year transition plan and that he would hold elections within nine months .
After the council failed to reach an agreement, eight European countries declared in a joint statement that they "condemned the violent attacks perpetrated in Sudan by the Sudanese security services against civilians".
Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden have declared that the "unilateral announcement" of the military council to put an end to negotiations, to appoint a government and to call elections in too short a time is very worrying. "
"We call for an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government, as called for by the Sudanese people," the statement said.
The African Union in the lead
The council convened at the request of Britain and Germany to hear a briefing from the UN envoy, Nicholas Haysom, who is working with the United Kingdom. African Union looking for a solution to the crisis.
Haysom told the press that he "had not given up hope that a solution would be possible".
Council diplomats turned to a meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council Wednesday to provide an answer to the crisis.
UN diplomats said the council could reconsider the issue and try to agree on a common position.
"We urgently need a return to the negotiating table," said German Ambbadador Christoph Heusgen before the meeting. "Legitimacy can not come from the barrel of a gun."
The military council has ruled the country since President Omar al-Bashir was deposed on April 11, after months of demonstrations against his authoritarian regime that has lasted for three decades.
Negotiations between the military leaders and the protesters' leaders were broken as a result of disagreements over whether a planned transitional body would be headed by a civilian or military personality.
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