Sudan says possible U.S. sanctions would further hurt people

KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 16, 2004 (AP) — Sudan on Wednesday criticized the U.S. for threatening sanctions if the African nation didn’t improve efforts to stop human trafficking, saying such a step would worsen the humanitarian situation.

A U.S. State Department report released Monday claimed Sudan and nine other countries engaged in human trafficking and held out the possibility of sanctions.

“The sanctions will affect the Sudanese people and more aggravate their humanitarian situation, thus the United State would be denying the people of their right to receive the aid,” Mutriq Siddiq, undersecretary in the Foreign Ministry told reporters in the first official Sudanese reaction.

Sudan is already under sanctions as one of the state sponsors of terrorism in the U.S. list.

The other countries in the trafficking report were Bangladesh, Burma, Cuba, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Venezuela.

The Sudanese government has also been accused of not taking the necessary steps to stop the violence in the western Darfur region, where a rebellion has left 1 million people homeless. It has been also criticized for supporting Arab militia accused of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing there.

Siddiq accused unnamed “foreign elements” of being behind the problem in Darfur besides the “local elements” and said all the parties should be blamed, not only the government.