Sudan has hard task “turning off” militias-Powell
By Arshad Mohammed
KUWAIT, July 29 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday he recognised that Sudan faced a difficult task in “turning off” the Arab militia blamed for triggering a humanitarian crisis in its Darfur region.
Powell has been pushing Khartoum to move faster to reign in the militia, known as Janjaweed, who have set villages ablaze, killed and raped in what critics say is part of a government offensive against two rebel movements which took up arms in early 2003.
But Arab nations and some members of the U.N. Security Council have argued Sudan needs time to bring the situation in Darfur under control. During a visit to Kuwait, Powell appeared to acknowledge those concerns.
“It is not an easy task for them to turn off this Janjaweed crowd and other militias that may be out there,” he said. “At the same time, the rebels have to be made to understand that this is not being done so they can take advantage of the situation.”
The Sudanese government is under threat of U.N. sanctions if it does not crack down on the militias and has appealed for more time to disarm them, winning the support of Arab countries who believe sanctions will not help to resolve the crisis.
“There is concern about the imposition of sanctions … There is a concern that we don’t want to put so much on the Sudanese government that (it) causes internal problems that might make the situation worse,” Powell said.
“At the same time, everybody recognises that pressure is needed or else we would not get any action at all,” he said.
The United States has scheduled a U.N. vote for Friday on its resolution threatening sanctions against Sudan if it does disarm the militia and prosecute those involved in atrocities.
At least 30,000 civilians have been killed in Darfur since fighting began in February 2003, 1 million are uprooted from their villages and 2 million need food and medicine in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The U.S. Congress has branded the violence as genocide.
After visits by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Powell earlier this month, Sudan agreed to disarm the militia, allow access to humanitarian groups and start talks with the rebels.
“They have had almost a month now since I visited (Darfur) and Secretary-General Annan visited and others have been visiting,” Powell said.
“This resolution gives them another month but says at the end of that month the Security Council … will look at it again to see what measures might be necessary.