US weighs sanctions on Sudanese officials

Nov 3, 2005 (UNITED NATIONS) — Security is deteriorating in Sudan’s Darfur region despite the presence of African Union peacekeepers, and the United Nations should take a fresh look at imposing sanctions on Sudanese officials, a top U.S. official said on Thursday.

“One thing that we should look at very seriously are stronger sanctions against the government in Khartoum, which is the source of the violence in Darfur — sanctions not against the country as a whole, but against the leadership,” said John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The situation in Darfur is “of highest concern” to President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who are expected to soon decide on new measures to help improve the security situation, Bolton said.

The international community, at the request of African governments, has relied primarily on an African Union peacekeeping force to bring stability to the region.

But “it is evident that those efforts are not sufficient. That is why we are looking now at what other steps we might take,” Bolton told a meeting of the Anti-Defamation League.

He was responding to a question from the audience.

Senior U.S. officials have long pressed Sudan’s government to do more to stop growing violence in Darfur.

But some members of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council have in the past strongly opposed targeted sanctions — such as a travel ban or an asset freeze — against parties in the Darfur conflict including government individual officials in Khartoum.

Bolton recently complained that the council heard report after report on Darfur’s woes but took little action.

The council has already threatened individuals outside the government — such as Darfur rebel groups and the Arab militias known as Janjaweed — with targeted sanctions.

But to date, no such action has been taken. Rebel leaders say the Janjaweed work for the government, but Khartoum denies this.

The United States and Britain made a push in the council last March to extend the threat of such sanctions to all officials.

But the effort failed.

(Reuters)