US studies blocking more Sudanese transactions
Feb 7, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — The US Treasury is studying how it might block the financial transactions of more Sudanese people and companies if Khartoum bars an international force from deploying in Darfur, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The officials, who asked not to be named because the plan is not public, were commenting on a Washington Post report that said the steps were part of a secret, three-tiered package of coercive measures — known informally as “Plan B” — the United States may take if Sudan fails to stop the Darfur violence.
Sudan has resisted allowing a U.N. force to enter Darfur, where about 200,000 people have been killed in the past four years and some 2.5 million have been driven from their homes.
The conflict began when rebels rose up against the government in February 2003 saying Khartoum discriminated against non-Arab farmers in Darfur in favor of Arab tribes. Arab militias known as the Janjaweed drove farmers from their land in a campaign the United States has called genocide.
A 7,500-strong African Union peacekeeping mission has struggled to maintain a shaky cease-fire in Darfur. After rejecting a U.N. takeover of the force, Khartoum appears to have accepted the idea of a hybrid AU-U.N. force.
The United States has repeatedly threatened, but failed to describe, its “Plan B” if Sudan fails to allow the hybrid force to deploy. It is also struggling to persuade countries to contribute troops for the force.
SANCTIONS
U.S. officials said the Washington Post report was broadly accurate in its description of possible Treasury steps, including the use of two existing executive orders to block transactions by more Sudanese individuals and companies.
“There are many, many different elements to plan B but the things that (the Washington Post) describes in there are accurate … the financial measures focused on Treasury,” said one U.S. official.
“The U.S. government, and specifically the Treasury, is examining steps that it can take under (its) existing sanctions program to support the administration’s efforts to restore peace and stability to Darfur,” said another U.S. official.
Under a 1997 executive order signed by former President Bill Clinton, the U.S. government has already blocked all property of the goverment of Sudan that is in the United States or in posession of a U.S. entity. The order was issued to punish Sudan for its alleged its support for terrorism, destablilizing its neighbors and human rights violations.
Under a 2006 executive order signed by U.S. President George W. Bush, Washington moved to block the assets of certain people connected with the conflict in Darfur. Four people were cited at the time and the order gave the Treasury the ability to act against others.
The officials said the possible Treasury steps were only part of a menu of options that Bush might take if Sudan were to resist the hybrid AU-U.N. force and said the exact steps would be chosen at the time.
One of the U.S. officials said Washington was pressing other nations to produce troops for the force, saying this was the only way to find out whether Sudanese President Lt Gen Omar Hassan al-Bashir would actually accept all three phases of the AU-U.N. force.
(Reuters)