On March 29, the UN Security Council voted to extend the mandate of its Panel of Experts in Sudan for an additional six months, until September 29, 2006, ReliefWeb reports. According to information provided by the Security Council, the decision resulted from the Panel’s documentation of breaches of the arms embargo imposed on Sudan in 2004, along with violations of the N’Djamena Ceasefire Agreement, and gross human rights violations perpetrated by all parties involved in the conflict—The Sudan Liberation Movement Army (SLMA), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the government-supported Janjaweed militia, and the government of Sudan. The SLMA and JEM are rebel groups formed by Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit peoples indigenous to the region to protest the government’s failure to protect them and their resources from continuous attacks to their lands and people. Among its key recommendations, the Panel of Experts proposes a "zero-tolerance approach" to violations of the ceasefire agreement, including extending the current arms embargo beyond Darfur to include the entire region of the Sudan.
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