Sudan has to cooperate over Darfur, CPA for normalisation – US
July 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — US envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios said on Friday Washington would not normalise relations with Khartoum without full cooperation over Darfur and implementation of a north-south peace deal.
“I want to emphasise that the improvement in the US government relationship with the Sudanese government is dependent on the full implementation of the (north-south) peace deal and a just resolution of the Darfur crisis,” he told reporters in Khartoum.
Natsios said that while there had been some progress in implementing a 2005 peace deal between north and south Sudan and improvement in conditions for humanitarian workers in the troubled western region of Darfur, the US had not dropped the idea of international sanctions against Sudan.
“That resolution is on a hold and if we find that the Sudanese government is being cooperative and facilitating the process of getting (international) troops to Sudan, we will drop it,” Natsios said referring to a hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force which Khartoum agreed to last month.
“If they do not we will bring the resolution out,” he warned.
In June US President George W. Bush said he was moving ahead with tighter sanctions on Sudan after the Khartoum government finally agreed to a joint African Union-UN force to end the bloodshed in Darfur.
Natsios said he was encouraged by progress in the implementation of a January 2005 peace deal between the Khartoum government and former southern rebels to end 21 years of civil war, but did note some delays.
He called on both parties to settle the dispute over the contentious Abiye region, on the border between north and south Sudan and claimed by both parties.
“The longer Abiye is left unresolved the more we risk” the peace deal, he said.
Natsios called on Khartoum to unblock 38 million dollars needed to finance a general census, without which elections cannot take place.
He also called on Sudan to speed up the withdrawal of its remaining troops in the south. Only 66 percent had retreated by the July 9 deadline set by the peace deal.
“We strongly urge this redeployment to be continued in order to comply with the (peace agreement). The presence of the northern troops right now passed the deadline in the oil areas and is disturbing,” Natsios said.
On Darfur, the US envoy welcomed improved conditions for humanitarian workers but said more needed to be done to control criminal acts against them.
“We appreciate this improvement but the criminal action against the humanitarian organisations in Darfur is increased,” he said, calling on Sudan to restore law and order.
Natsios also called for a commitment by Khartoum equal to that of the international community for the development of Darfur. He said the United States had spent two billion dollars in four years on the war-torn region.
He expressed the hope that a Libyan-sponsored conference in Tripoli on July 15 and 16 could bring about “concrete measures” to advance the political process in Darfur, where a peace deal in May 2006 was signed by just one of three negotiating factions.
The non-signatory rebel groups have since splintered and the violence has continued.
The United States accuses Sudan of committing “genocide” in Darfur, where a four-year conflict has killed at least 200,000 people and forced more than two million from their homes, according to UN figures.
Khartoum disputes these numbers, but some sources the death toll is much higher.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then enlisted the Janjaweed militia group to help crush the rebellion.
(AFP)