Sudan Summons U.S. Envoy over Draft U.N. Sanctions Resolution

Sudan said Wednesday it summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Khartoum to protest Washington's sponsorship of a draft U.N. resolution extending sanctions over Darfur that could target gold mining.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1591, which was passed in 2005, imposed travel bans and asset freezes on parties involved in the conflict in the western Darfur region.

The panel of experts for the 1591 Sudan sanctions committee is expected to be renewed soon.

A statement by foreign ministry, which summoned the U.S. diplomat, said the draft resolution includes "paragraphs unfair to Sudan dealing with the matter of gold mining in Sudan."

The U.S. envoy was told that the "draft resolution was contrary to the spirit of bilateral relations between the two countries," the statement added, without giving details about the draft.

Resolution 1591 does not currently target the gold industry in Darfur, which some activists have said is driving conflicts over land in the region.

Washington slapped Sudan with a trade embargo in 1997 over alleged rights abuses and the Khartoum government's alleged backing for radical Islamist groups.

In recent months, Sudan has been calling for the U.S. to relax its sanctions.

Ethnic insurgents mounted a campaign against Bashir's government in Darfur in 2003, claiming their region was being marginalized.

Some 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and there are 2.5 million people who have been forced to flee their homes in the region, according to the U.N.

Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 over war crimes related to the Darfur conflict, but he has denied the counts.

Fighting has flared around the isolated Jebel Marra area in Darfur since January 15, with tens of thousands of civilians thought to have been displaced in the fighting.