Egypt says Sudan sanctions should be avoided

CAIRO, July 27 (Reuters) – Egypt said on Tuesday that imposing sanctions on its southern neighbour Sudan over a humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region would be damaging and should be avoided.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also said Egypt, an Arab world diplomatic heavyweight, shared concerns over the situation in Darfur, where the United Nations says the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding.

The EU on Monday called on the United Nations to consider imposing sanctions on Arab League member Sudan if does not neutralise Arab militia which have been attacking African communities. U.S. Congress has called the campaign a genocide.

Washington is expected to call a U.N. vote this week on a U.S.-drafted resolution threatening Sudan with sanctions over Darfur, where the U.N. says one million have been displaced and 30,000 more killed.

“While we understand the aspects of concern and we share the aspects of concern and the interest in … getting Darfur out of this situation, we underline the importance of avoiding the concept of sanctions and threatening sanctions, because this will damage the situation and complicate aspects of this matter,” Aboul Gheit told reporters in Cairo.

Sudan has drawn comparisons between pressures over Darfur with U.S.-led pressure on Iraq before the war which ousted Saddam Hussein and was opposed by Arab states including Egypt.