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US Bush raises pressure as Darfur deadline nears

April 27, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — President George W. Bush announced new sanctions on Thursday against people suspected of aiding genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region, as peace talks in Nigeria neared a deadline and 160 religious and human rights groups prepared for a massive Washington rally on Sunday.

Bush_addressing_reporters.jpgBush issued an executive order freezing the assets of anyone deemed to have posed a threat to the peace process or stability in Darfur. The order also prohibited U.S. companies or individuals from dealing with those targeted.

Arab militia, backed by the Sudanese government, have terrorized non-Arab tribes in the region over the past three years, murdering and raping tens of thousands, burning villages and driving more than 2 million people into squalid camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.

Bush said he was taking the action because the violence in Darfur threatened the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on four Sudanese accused of abuses in the conflict. Khartoum denies responsibility for the violence in the area the size of France in the west of Sudan.

Peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, mediated by the African Union are facing a Sunday deadline to reach a deal. Mediators presented an 85-page draft peace settlement on Tuesday and a Sudanese government negotiator said it represented a possible basis for a deal, although tough negotiations still lay ahead.

But the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday that many people continued to die daily as violence and lack of money hampered humanitarian help, and malnutrition was rising again while aid workers have been unable to reach the region.

Another 200,000 people had fled their homes in the past three months alone to escape fighting between rebels, the army and government-backed militias, UNICEF said.

As more Americans become aware of the unfolding tragedy, a coalition of 160 religious, human rights and political groups planned a major rally in Washington D.C. on Sunday to demand that Bush press for a stronger multinational force to end the violence and protect the people of Darfur.

Speakers included Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Washington’s Roman Catholic Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Illinois Democratic Sen. Barak Obama and actor George Clooney, who visited Darfur last week.

The Oscar-winning actor said that just five days ago he was on the border between Chad and Darfur with his father, watching refugees spilling into sordid camps while women foraging for food faced the threat of rape or death.

“What we cannot do is turn our heads and look away and hope that this will somehow disappear,” Clooney said to a packed news conference at the National Press Club. “It’s the first genocide of the 21st century.”

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said the first priority was to provide humanitarian relief to those who were suffering in Darfur and improve security by sending in a more robust U.N. peacekeeping mission with a strong mandate.

“There is resistance to overcome, but it must be done. There is no time to waste,” said Zoellick at a remembrance ceremony on Capitol Hill.

The four men targeted by the U.N. Security Council are a Sudan air force commander, a pro-government militia leader, and two rebel commanders. But no top Sudanese leader was included.

(Reuters)

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