US sanctions harm peace implementation in Sudan – al-Bashir

July 21, 2006 KHARTOUM) — President Omer al-Bashir, said that the economic sanctions being imposed by the United States on Sudan represent the biggest threat to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the unity of the country.

In a state delegation, which statement to the journalists who accompanied him to the recent Sullivan Summit in Abuja, Al-Bashir said that the American blockade is impeding the implementation of projects in Sudan at the reconstruction and development fields, especially in south of the country.

He said that the US sanctions are making difficult the establishment of major projects, such as railways to link between the north and the south.

Al-Bashir said that Sudan is adopting a clear-cut foreign policy, which based on openness for the international community and the regional arena, adding that the policy realized a remarkable success in the past years.

He said that the hostile foreign mass media had created a gap between the Africans in the United States and Sudan with a false pretext of a war between the Arabs and the black Africans, adding that the Sullivan Summit is one of the opportunities that shall be utilized to remove this false allegation and confusion.

In October 1997, the U.S. imposed comprehensive economic, trade and financial sanctions against Sudan in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. Further sanctions, particularly on weapons, have been imposed since the 2003 outbreak of violence in the western Darfur region..

Relations have warmed between Washington and Khartoum since the January signing of a peace deal to end the 21-year southern civil war and Sudan’s improved cooperation in the war on terror. But the US Administrations maintains the sanctions to put pressures on Khartoum to achieve Darfur peace process.

(ST)