Sudan military operation in Darfur violates peace deal – US
Sept 27, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government’s military operation in Darfur violates the peace agreement it signed in May, the top US diplomat in Khartoum said Wednesday.
Hume Cameron said Sudan’s army had moved over 8,000 men to Darfur’s regional capital of El Fasher in violation of its commitment not to move troops around the troubled western area of the country.
“The government is repeatedly violating the cease-fire it signed in May,” Hume Cameron told The Associated Press of Khartoum’s ongoing campaign in the troubled area of western Sudan. Since the government signed the agreement with a rebel group, fighting has intensified causing additional hardship to civilians.
“The Sudanese government’s unilateral moves have been unsuccessful and have worsened the situation,” Cameron said of latest round of fighting that began when the government on Aug. 28 launched an offensive.
Several Sudanese officers have been killed in the recent fighting and rebel forces have captured a significant number of vehicles and large amounts of armaments, Cameron said, but did not give the source of the information.
Sudan’s president has repeatedly said he opposes a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur because he views it as a ploy by the US and Britain to recolonize Sudan.
The U.N. Security Council passed resolution that planned for the 7,000-troop African Union peacekeeping force to be transferred to the control of the U.N. and expanded to some 20,000 soldiers when the AU’s mission expired Sept. 30.
However, the AU has agreed that its forces will stay on until the end of the year. Cameron, who holds the diplomatic rank of charge d’affaires, described the U.S. economic sanctions currently imposed on Sudan as merely “background noise” in view of Sudan’s thriving trade with other partners and impressive economic growth rates.
Sudan’s economy grew by 14 percent last year, mainly due to a booming oil industry, and China is by far Khartoum’s main trade partner.
The US has had strained relations with Sudan since the 1970’s, when the American ambassador in Khartoum was murdered.
Sanctions were imposed in 1997 for Sudan’s support of international terrorism, the violation of human rights and attempts to destabilize neighboring governments. It harbored some of the world’s most notorious terrorists including Osama bin Laden.
U.S. lawmakers now want to step up the punitive measures on Sudan for its failure to halt the suffering in Darfur. Fighting that began in early 2003 between local rebels and pro-government forces has killed at least 200,000 people and displaced 2 million.
This week, the House of Representatives passed a bill – now with the Senate – with penalties that include blocking assets, refusing to grant Sudanese officials entry to the United States and preventing certain ships from entering U.S. ports.
Cameron acknowledged that the US now cooperates with Sudanese intelligence officials in the war against terrorism. He declined to discuss whether these Sudanese officials are among those suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Washington pulled its ambassador from Khartoum in 1998 before U.S. missiles hit the city in retaliation to al-Qaida’s bombing of American embassies in east Africa.
(AP/ST)