US lobbies for Sudan ban

The United States says it is lobbying other countries to back its efforts to bar Sudan from representing Africa on the United Nations Security Council.

A spokesman for the State Department, Richard Boucher, said Sudan was unsuitable for such a role, because it was the subject of UN sanctions, and its air force had bombed areas where U.N. relief operations were based in southern Sudan.

He said this contravened the U.N. Charter which calls for nations to pay due regard to the maintenance of international peace and stability.

Mr Boucher said the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, had spoken to several countries to try to gain their support. The Organisation of African Unity normally would pick the African country to take a rotating seat next year on the Security Council.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service