Bush holds off on Sudan sanctions
WASHINGTON, April 21 (AFP) — US President George W. Bush opted not to impose sanctions on Sudan’s government or southern rebels, finding that they are negotiating in good faith to end their bloody conflict.
“I hereby determine and certify that the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement are negotiating in good faith and that negotiations should continue,” Bush said in a memorandum to US Secretary of State Colin Powell that was released by the White House.
In a report to the US Congress, however, Bush was to express unhappiness at “stagnant” talks between Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), US officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Sudan Peace Act provides for the president to slap sanctions on Khartoum or move toward cutting back US support for the SPLA if either is found not to be negotiating in good faith.
The report, mandated under that law, will say the “parties have made continued albeit slow progress in their negotiations on remaining issues” but decry the “difficult and stagnant pace” of the talks underway in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, the US officials said.
Despite his conviction that the talks should continue, Bush is to say in the report that the state of the deadlocked negotiations does not bode well for the implementation of any agreement that might be reached, the officials said.
“The president is concerned about the difficult and stagnant pace of the talks and the minimalist approach taken by both sides,” one official said, adding that the “existing atmosphere foreshadows an uninspired effort to implement the terms of an accord.”
In addition, the report says the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region must be resolved if the United States is to improve relations with Khartoum, the officials said.
Bush has in the past held out the possibility of easing existing US sanctions on the Sudanese government if a deal with the SPLA is achieved, but has now included a settlement to Darfur in the mix.
The United States has been at the forefront of efforts to press Khartoum and the SPLA to reach an agreement but has become increasingly frustrated that self-declared deadlines for an accord have been missed.
These include a pledge to have completed a deal by December 31, 2003 that they made to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who visited Naivasha last October, and persistent unmet promises for a quick agreement made to Bush, Powell and other US officials since.
After more than two years of talks, and the completion of numerous partial agreements, they are now stuck on the role of sharia law, something the Islamic government favors but the mainly Christian and animist SPLA opposes.
On Thursday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington did hold out some hope for a quick agreement, but allowed it would be “foolhardy” to expect one.
Boucher also expressed disappointment that Khartoum and the SPLA had been debating the same issue for two weeks without significant progress and renewed the warning.
Under the Sudan Peace Act, Bush must determine every six months whether Khartoum and the SPLA are making good faith efforts to reach an agreement and can impose sanctions on one side, the other or both depending on his findings. Wednesday was the deadline for the latest report.
Under the law, the United States can seek a UN arms embargo on the Sudanese government and restrict its access to credit and oil revenue if Khartoum is found to have obstructed a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
At the same time, it bars Washington from taking those steps and paves the way for limits in aid to the SPLA if the rebels are found to be at fault.
Low-level talks aimed at ending the conflict that has claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced four million people started in 2002.
Since July 2002, when they struck an accord granting the south the right to a referendum after a six-year transition period, other deals have been reached on a 50-50 split of the country’s wealth — particularly revenues from oil, and how to manage government and SPLA armies during the interim period.