Powell not saying whether Sudan still carrying out genocide in Darfur

By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 8, 2005 (AP) — Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday declined to say whether Sudan was still carrying out ethnic genocide in Darfur, but warned that the government could face U.N. penalties if the violence in the region continues.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, middle, along with SPLM Chairman John Garang, right, and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha, left, smile before a press conference in Nairobi, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2005.. (AP).

Powell also said a hard-won agreement to end the fighting between Sudan’s government and southern rebels could provide momentum for settling the conflict in Darfur, which is in the west.

After a tour of tsunami-ravaged countries in South Asia, Powell was in Kenya’s capital to represent the United States at Sunday’s signing of the peace deal settling the conflict in southern Sudan. The United States and other countries helped push the two sides to end the fighting, which was blamed for more than 2 million deaths, primarily from war-induced famine and disease.

Powell expressed no reservations that his presence was lending U.S. imprimatur to an incomplete solution in ethnically divided Sudan.

“I think this agreement stands on its own merits,” Powell said at a news conference with the top rebel leader from the south, John Garang, and Sudan’s vice president, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha.

“It brings a war to an end, but there are other wars taking place … I think this gives us a basis now to redouble our efforts in Darfur,” Powell said.

In September, Powell surprised and angered some U.S. allies when he used the term genocide to describe the nearly 2-year-old conflict in Darfur.

A report released Friday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the violence in Darfur was growing worse. Some 70,000 people have died as a result of disease, hunger and attacks since March and nearly 2 million are believed to have fled their homes. Many more are believed to have died in the fighting.

Asked if the violence still amounts to genocide, Powell did not answer directly.

“It was my judgment that genocide was taking place,” Powell said, with the Sudanese vice president at his side. “I have not seen the secretary-general’s latest report but I look forward to examining it.”

The State Department acknowledged when Powell made his statement in September that it could complicate negotiations with Sudan’s Arab-led government.

Sudan is on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Powell said the United States eventually would like to normalize relations with Sudan.

A Nov. 9 cease-fire signed in Nigeria between the government and the two main rebel groups in Darfur repeatedly has broken by both sides. New insurgent groups recently have arisen to add strength to the resistance.

There are parallels to the southern conflict. There, rebels made up mainly of Christians and animists demanded greater autonomy from Sudan’s Islamic-dominated government and a greater share of the country’s wealth for the south.

Other countries have pressured Sudan to end the Darfur conflict, which the United Nations last year said was the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Two U.N. Security Council resolutions have threatened possible penalties against Sudan’s government, as has a bill signed by President Bush in December.

Powell raised anew the possibility that the United Nations could step in, as the United States asked it to do last year.

“The United Nations still has options before it, and we do not take any of those options off the table,” Powell said.