US says Sudan responsible for Darfur security, steps up pressure on Khartoum
WASHINGTON, July 26 (AFP) — The United States said that security in Sudan’s war-torn western region of Darfur is Khartoum’s responsibility, ruling out for the moment calls for an international peacekeeping force even as it piled more pressure on the Sudanese government for immediate action.
The State Department said Washington expected Khartoum to meet commitments made to US Secretary of State Colin Powell UN chief Kofi Annan and others that it would protect the people of Darfur from Arab militias accused of mounting an ethnic cleansing campaign in the region that some say amounts to genocide.
“That, at this point, is the role of the Sudanese government,” deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said when asked who the United States believed should be responsible for security in Darfur, which the United Nations describes as the world’s most serious current humanitarian crisis.
Khartoum “has committed to doing that,” he said. “If you have the government of Sudan on record … saying that it is going to use its forces to protect its people, then I think it’s incumbent upon them to follow through on those commitments and uphold their responsibilities.”
Australia and Britain said over the weekend that they might be willing to contribute troops for a peacekeeping mission in Darfur as the European Union joined US demands for Sudanese action to improve conditions in the region and efforts mounted at the United Nations for a Security Council resolution to punish the militias, known as Janjaweed.
Despite US reluctance to endorse a peacekeeping mission, Ereli said Washington was in “high diplomatic gear” at the United Nations to build support for a resolution that would hold Khartoum to its promises.
“I would not say our patience is unlimited,” he said. “I would say we are moving resolutely in the UN … to back up our acceptance of their commitments with international mechanisms to verify those commitments, and to, if they’re not fulfilled, hold them to account.”
As part of the US effort, Powell, who visited Darfur earlier this month and met last week in New York with Annan to discuss the situation, spent a large part of the weekend telephoning officials from other UN Security Council members, Ereli said.
Powell spoke Saturday with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has been in contact with Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir, Annan and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, he said.
On Sunday, Powell spoke with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Ereli said, adding that Powell had spoken again Monday with Musharraf.
Earlier, in Turkey, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said international “threats” would not help solve the Darfur conflict and that foreign peacekeepers would not be welcome in the region, where they would risk being seen as occupiers.
The conflict in Darfur began in February 2003 with a rebel uprising against Khartoum, protesting that the largely black African region had been ignored by the Arab government of the oil-rich state.
In response, the pro-government Janjaweed and other militias went on the rampage, carrying out what aid and rights groups have called a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The conflict has claimed up to 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million have been displaced, with around 200,000 people taking refuge in neighboring Chad, according to UN officials.