Sudanese minister says Bush belongs on UN sanctions list
Feb 23, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s interior minister said he was surprised his name was on a list of people who could face sanctions for blocking peace in Darfur and suggested on Thursday U.S. President George W. Bush should instead be on the list.
The U.N. Security Council last year formed a committee to investigate and recommend names for a travel ban and asset freeze of anyone they deemed to be obstructing efforts to end a three-year-old conflict in Sudan’s west.
That committee compiled a secret list of 17 names to be considered for sanctions. On Wednesday Reuters obtained the list, which named Sudan’s defence and interior ministers and the head of the intelligence services, Salah Gosh.
Interior Minister Zubair Bashir Taha said he had not been told that he was on the list and would be “surprised … and then I’d be angry” if he were.
“If any name has been mentioned apart from (U.S.) President (George W.) Bush and his junta … I’d be very surprised,” he added, looking flustered.
He said the war in Darfur, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and driven 2 million people from their homes, was a creation of the Western media and foreign interests.
He was particularly scathing of the United States, which has called the Darfur violence genocide. Taha said U.S. interests in Sudan’s oil reserves was behind their comments.
Sudan produces around 330,000 barrels per day of crude oil and exports gold.
Taha told reporters the United States and other foreign states were trying to attack Sudan’s police and armed forces to gain easier access to its natural resources.
“The first attacks will be at the command and control. The first attack will be targeted at the police and army,” he said, adding they wanted to disarm Sudan’s national defences.
“This is neo-colonialism,” he added.
The three high-level Sudanese officials were on the list because they failed to take appropriate action to carry out the Sudanese government’s commitment to disarm the Arab militia groups attacking non-Arab villagers in Darfur, the experts said in their report to the United Nations.
Khartoum promised 18 months ago to disarm those militia but have failed to do so.
The sanctions list also named four senior officers in the Sudanese armed forces, three Sudanese security or police officials, two militia leaders and three commanders of the Sudan Liberation Army, Darfur’s main rebel group.
Discussion of the committee’s recommendations has been hindered in New York by Sudan’s allies, China and the Muslim state of Qatar, currently sitting on the Security Council.
The experts’ annex also said Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and neighbouring Chadian President Idriss Deby, are among five names on a second list that the experts said should be considered for possible future targeted sanctions.
(Reuters)