US unlikely to impose penalties on Sudan-officials
By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush is unlikely to impose penalties on the Sudanese government if it fails to reach a peace agreement this week with southern rebels, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
Under the Sudan Peace Act, Bush must report to the U.S.Congress on Wednesday on whether the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement are negotiating in good faith to end a 21-year civil war that has killed some 2 million people.
If Bush found the government was not negotiating in good faith, he could punish it by moving to block oil revenues and loans through international financial institutions, seeking a U.N. arms embargo and downgrading diplomatic ties.
U.S. officials who asked not to be named said it was likely that Bush would declare the two sides to be negotiating in good faith and hence not impose any sanctions on the government.
“We still think there’s a chance for them to reach an agreement soon so I don’t think we’re going to take any drastic or heavy-handed measures that jeopardize the possibility of an agreement,” said one U.S. official. “It would surprise me if we were to impose sanctions at this … delicate moment.”
“Our general consensus at this point is that they are still negotiating in good faith,” said another official, who stressed the decision was up to Bush. “Painful and slow as this process is … it is clear that this is not a matter of one side or the other stalling but of a genuine desire to reach an agreement.”
The U.S. State Department said it would be “foolhardy” to expect a quick peace deal to end the conflict, which broadly pits the Islamist government in Khartoum against the mainly animist or Christian south.
The State Department said peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya, were snagged over issues including whether Islamic sharia law should be imposed in the capital, governorships of the southern Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains regions and powersharing.
“The government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army have not reached an agreement in Naivasha and that is disappointing,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. “The parties do continue to negotiate.”
“We understand the parties are actively engaging with a mediation team — the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development — to try to resolve these issues,” he added. “We hope that this will produce results imminently.”
Asked if the United States had any reason to expect a quick agreement, he replied: “I think it would be foolhardy to expect (it) but we certainly hope they would.”