Powell to threaten Sudan with sanctions – officials
By Saul Hudson
WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) – Secretary of State Colin Powell will threaten to press for U.N. sanctions against Sudan during a visit to press Khartoum to stem the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The top U.S. diplomat will fly to Africa’s largest nation next week to highlight the crisis and demand Khartoum allow aid into the Darfur region and stop Arab militias who have driven hundreds of thousands of black Africans from their homes.
“He will look them in the eyes and say, ‘You are in for a world of pain unless you give us what we are asking for — immediately,'” said a Bush administration official, who asked not to be named.
The United States and United Nations accuse Sudan of supporting militias responsible for ethnic cleansing in the oil-rich country and have warned hundreds of thousands of people could die in a conflict affecting 2 million people.
Washington says it is assessing whether the militias are responsible for genocide. The Bush administration, which has been criticized for responding too slowly to the crisis and is under pressure from Congress to do more, is obliged to prevent genocide due to a U.N. convention on such violence.
The menu of Powell’s threats, which would likely be made in private meetings with the government, would range from international sanctions to the possibility officials could be pursued as war criminals, the administration official said.
The United States hopes Powell’s trip, which coincides with a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will help raise the profile of the crisis within the Security Council where there is no clear support for sanctions. The two men will meet in Khartoum.
The United States already has an array of its own sanctions against Sudan and is considering freezing the assets of individual officials.
Washington hopes Sudan will avert the need to make direct threats during the trip by offering to allow aid and curb the militias, said a State Department official, who also asked not to be named.
“The visit in itself sends an unequivocal message that we will hold the government accountable,” he said.
Eric Reeves, an expert on Darfur at Smith College in Massachusetts, said Powell should go further and warn of military intervention that is needed to ensure food and medical supplies reach the victims.
“Failing to stop the genocide is acquiescing in the genocide,” said Reeves, who estimates 100,000 people have already died in the conflict.
Annan said on Friday nations should consider intervening to protect those caught in fighting that stems from a rebellion last year that the government sought to crush.