US sanctions undermine Darfur peace: Sudan’s FM
June 6, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — Sudan on Wednesday accused the United States of playing politics over Darfur, claiming that tougher US sanctions will only set back the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the blood-soaked region.
Sudanese Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, said the latest US sanctions announced last month came just as his government was preparing to thrash out the details of a force for Darfur comprising UN and African Union soldiers.
The latest talks on the long-delayed “hybrid” force would take place in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa next Monday, he told reporters at Washington’s National Press Club via video-link from Khartoum.
“Imposition of sanctions definitely is going to harm the peaceful process as well as harming the Darfur people,” said Akol, a former rebel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army who joined a government of national unity in 2005.
“Definitely everybody’s perplexed and surprised as to why such a decision would come at this particular time when we are about to finalize what was asked of all of us to do,” he said.
In late May, President George W. Bush tightened US sanctions on Sudan over the “genocide” in Darfur and pushed for a tough new UN Security Council resolution to punish Khartoum for the bloody crisis.
Violence in the western Sudanese region has left at least 200,000 people dead and forced more than two million people from their homes, according to the United Nations. Sudan disputes those estimates, saying 9,000 people have died.
Akol said Bush’s decision was a response to a US public outcry over Darfur, arguing “it has nothing to do with the position on the ground, it was only addressing the internal concerns of the US administration.”
“The first casualty of these sanctions, coming at the time that they did, is the peace process,” he added.
“You are definitely scuttling all of the efforts that are meant to bring about the peaceful resolution of the problem in Darfur.”
Just ahead of the new US sanctions, the UN Security Council approved plans for a hybrid UN-AU force of up to 23,000 peacekeepers. But that is subject to the approval of Khartoum, which has so far consistently rejected the proposals.
Sudan has enjoyed backing from China against concerted UN sanctions. China is the African country’s leading oil customer and one of its top arms suppliers, along with fellow Security Council member Russia.
(AFP)