Sudan should face threat of sanctions – former FMs

Dec 18, 2006 (LONDON) — Sudan should have until the end of the year to agree to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur or face sanctions and other punitive measures, 15 former foreign ministers said in comments published on Monday.

Writing a proposal for Darfur in the Financial Times, the group, which included Madeleine Albright of the United States, Joschka Fischer of Germany and Turkey’s Ismail Cem, said a fully observed ceasefire leading to a sustained political settlement would be the best way to save lives in the war-ravaged region.

In the interim, the international community had to convince Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that his best interests would be served by allowing the African Union peacekeeping force to be strengthened with financial, logistical and other support from the United Nations, the group said.

“As former diplomats, we support one last effort to persuade Khartoum to accept the proposal for a hybrid force. If by the year’s end Mr Bashir still refuses or, more likely, continues pretending to agree one day and saying no the next, he should pay a stiff price,” the former foreign ministers said.

“That price should include, first, targeted multilateral sanctions (such as travel bans and asset freezes) directed at military and civilian leaders who are responsible for the violence; second, measures to target revenue from Sudan’s oil sales, coupled with an embargo on the sale of equipment to that country’s petroleum industry,” the former ministers said.

Thirdly, they called for steps to be taken to close offshore accounts affiliated with the government-majority party, including militias. In addition, the International Criminal Court should up its investigations into those who order or commit crimes against humanity in Darfur.

“Will such sanctions suffice to change Mr Bashir’s mind and Sudan’s policy? We believe the answer is yes, provided the sanctions are sufficiently comprehensive and multilateral,” the group said.

Other signatories to the proposal were: Lloyd Axworthy of Canada; Erik Derycke of Belgium; Lamberto Dini of Italy; Gareth Evans of Australia; Bronislaw Geremek of Poland; Rosario Green of Mexico; Niels Helveg Petersen of Denmark; Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand; Hubert Vedrine of France; Ana Palacio of Spain; Lydie Polfer of Luxembourg and Jozias van Aartsen of the Netherlands.

(Reuters)