US stresses diplomacy over arms on Sudan violence

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) – The United States condemned the latest violence in western Sudan on Wednesday and said it is focusing on diplomatic efforts rather than military intervention to stop the bloodshed.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that outside military action may be needed in to halt “ethnic cleansing” in the Darfur region, drawing an immediate rejection from the Sudanese government in Khartoum.

Arab militias are conducting an organized campaign to drive black Africans from Sudan’s Darfur region and the government is doing little to stop it, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said last week.

President George W. Bush on Wednesday joined the international community in condemning the latest attacks in Darfur and stressed the need for a peace agreement with rebels.

“The Sudanese government must immediately stop local militias from committing atrocities against the local population and must provide unrestricted access to humanitarian aid agencies,” Bush said in a statement.

One U.S. official who asked not to be identified said the government had not yet seriously considered international military intervention.

“If things don’t get better, don’t improve, then we might be in a situation where international intervention is necessary,” said the official, who stressed he had only seen media reports of Annan’s comments.

The conflict in Sudan, which has claimed about 2 million lives, broadly pits the Islamic government in Khartoum against the mainly animist, Christian south. It is complicated by issues of oil, ethnicity and ideology.

The United States will not normalize relations with the country until a comprehensive peace agreement was reached with the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement, Bush said, adding that he had expressed his views directly to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

A State Department official said on Monday a deal on ending two decades of civil war in Sudan was very close.

The U.S. official said it was important to get humanitarian workers on the ground in Sudan.

“Whether, and under what conditions, that might involve an international force I think is something that really hasn’t been given a lot of thought and depending on the circumstances it may or may not be applicable,” he said.