Sudan will be held accountable on Darfur – Rice
Dec 15, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday Sudan would be held accountable if it did not accept international troops into Darfur and she dangled the threat of sanctions against Khartoum.
In an interview with Reuters, Rice voiced growing U.S. frustration at Sudan’s refusal to allow international troops to go to Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed in three years of fighting that the United States says is genocide.
“The Sudanese need to be convinced that if they are not willing to accept that help from the international system, then they’re going to be held accountable for anything that happens,” said Rice.
The United States and others are considering a range of options against Sudan, from travel bans on Sudanese officials and an assets freeze to imposing a no-fly zone in Darfur.
“There are already standing sanctions resolutions in the Security Council. There are — there is the possibility of designations. I mean, there are lots of tools and I think we’ll be exploring those options,” said Rice.
Earlier this year, the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on four Sudanese accused of abuses in the Darfur conflict. Those included a travel ban and a freeze on assets abroad.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he would support a no-fly zone as part of a sanctions package if Sudan continued to refuse to allow in a hybrid force consisting of U.N. and African Union troops.
The hybrid force was proposed as a compromise after Sudan rejected outright a U.N. force. There are about 7,000 struggling African Union troops already in Darfur.
“I can’t really comment at this point on the no-fly zone. It’s an idea that’s been out there, but I don’t think we know enough about it at this point,” Rice said when asked if the United States wanted a no-fly zone too.
“But the thing right now is to try and get the Sudanese to agree,” she added.
The U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, was in Khartoum this week where he met President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Natsios came away with an assurance that U.N. logistics teams would be granted visas to go to Darfur, which have thus far been refused, but he did not appear to make any other breakthroughs.
Last month, Natsios said the United States would resort to an unspecified “Plan B” if Khartoum continued to balk at the offer of an international force.
Asked whether Natsios had laid out a deadline to Bashir, Rice said: “He certainly told them that it was urgent. We don’t generally work with hard deadlines.”
(Reuters)