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We heard that there have been, and continue to be, major andfrequent

violations of UN sanctions on Sudan that were imposed in 2005. Weknow

that weapons continue to flow into Darfur, acts of sexual and

gender-based violence continue unabated and with impunity, militaryover-flights and offensive actions continue. And though there has been

the recent signing of the framework agreement, the fact is we continueto receive reports of offensive military actions by the Government of

Sudan in Darfur.

. In light of this fragile situation, the lack of compliance

to UN sanctions on Darfur is particularly troubling. And the blatantdisregard of the will of the Council is undermining stability rather

than fostering it, which was the aim of the regime in the first place.

Last fall the Sudan Panel of Experts, an independent UN team, as you

know, documented in great detail these serial violations and proposedsome very concrete recommendations for the Committee to take to

improveenforcement. And we're disappointed, deeply disappointed, that the

Committee has failed to reach consensus on even a single one of these

recommendations. So today in the Council I praised AmbassadorMayr-Harting and his leadership of this Committee, which has truly

beenenergetic and stellar. But I also frankly criticized the Committee as a

whole, which means all of us Council members, who have a collectiveresponsibility for dealing with this situation. We expect, the UnitedStates expects, the Committee to find points of consensus and work

together to improve implementation of the sanctions regime.

We want this Committee to be active and engaged and to shine a

spotlighton sanctions violations. And we want the Committee also to work with

the Government of Sudan, parties in Sudan, and countries in theregion

to end what have been cavalier violations of this sanctions regime. Inour view, better enforcement of the sanctions regime will improveconditions on the ground in support of peace and security. It would

limit the flow of arms into Darfur, and do much to protect civilians whoremain at grave risk. And this is going to remain a top priority for

the United States.


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Reporter: Madame Ambassador, can you really stop arms into Darfurwithout a total arms embargo on Sudan? And is that ever going to be

possible?

Ambassador Rice: Well certainly we have argued for more robust

multilateral as well as national measures to reinforce progress towardsending the violence against civilians, the genocide, and the killing in

Sudan. One of the limitations of this regime is that it has been floutedby various parties, including countries in the region, and obviously a

more comprehensive approach might strengthen it. But if the will

existed - greater will existed - to implement existing measures, thatwould be, in itself, progress. And that is in fact what we are decrying

here today.

Reporter: Madame Ambassador, just a clarification on one thing thatyou

just said about Sudan. You said you're disappointed in yourselves fornot following concrete recommendations. Could you tell us a little bit

more about what those recommendations are that you think aren'tbeing

followed? And on Iran, did Deputy Secretary Steinberg hear anything

different in Beijing yesterday in his talks than the Chinese have beensaying here in terms of their opposition to sanctions?

Ambassador Rice: Well, let me take, let me quickly answer your first

point and then go on to the second. The Panel of Experts have comebackwith a whole series of recommendations, many of which we think had

meritand would like to see implemented by the Committee. I don't want to

go

chapter and verse through each of them, but we think that they havedone

a credible job and there are many steps that the Committee couldtake,

including looking at the role of the private sector, including rigorousfollow up, to ensure that this regime has more credibility than itcurrently has. And we will, as I said inside the Council, also step up

our own efforts to provide the panel, the newly reconstituted panel,which has just gone out of late, with the kind of information that we're

able to provide that we hope will support them in their efforts. Weparticularly are concerned about the importance of holding

accountable


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violators who employ sexual violence against innocent civiliansin

Darfur, and I commend again Ambassador Mayr-Harting fordrawing

attention, in particular, to that challenge.

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Reporter: A follow up on the Sudan question: if you can just give us a

flavor for what precisely the U.S. wants for the sanctions in terms of

the recommendations. What does the U.S. think is a good idea andwhy do

you think you haven't been able to get that?

Ambassador Rice: As I said previously Colum, we think that the

recommendations that the panel has made are worthy and meritserious

consideration and indeed implementation. It's no secret that there aredifferences of view in the Council on sanctions on Darfur and how

robustimplementation ought to be. It's the U.S.'s view that when the Council

imposes measures, whether on Iran, or North Korea, or Sudan, that

thosemeasures need to be fully and faithfully enforced. And in this instance,

and frankly in contrast to some others, the level of commitment andenergy behind enforcement is inadequate and we're working to change

that.

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