Sudan dismisses threat of sanctions over Darfur
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Washington’s threat of sanctions against Sudan over the Darfur crisis is part of a U.S. conspiracy aimed at destroying the government in Khartoum as it did in Iraq and Somalia, a senior Sudanese official said.
“Sudan is not afraid of the threat of sanctions by the United States, which is using the crisis in Darfur to weaken and destroy the government of Sudan in a similar fashion in which they devastated Iraq and Somalia,” said Angelo Beda, Deputy Speaker of Sudan’s parliament.
Beda, speaking at a news conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa late on Monday, was referring to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and U.S. support of a Somalia peace operation that ended in humiliation in 1993.
The U.N. Security Council gave Sudan 30 days to disarm and prosecute Arab Janjaweed militia accused of killing, raping and driving villagers from their land in an 18-month conflict or face unspecified sanctions. The deadline expired on Aug. 30.
U.N. envoy Jan Pronk has called for more pressure to be put on Khartoum but with opinion split among Security Council members after the expiry of the deadline, the United Nations is not expected to take action soon.
U.S. Ambassador John Danforth has warned that the threat of sanctions was not going to go away and the European Union said on Saturday it would draw up sanctions against Khartoum, including possible measures against its oil industry, which could be enacted at the request of the United Nations.
SUDAN CRITICISES ANNAN
Khartoum has said it does not control the Janjaweed, who it brands as outlaws, and is not responsible for their actions.
“Sudan has done everything humanly possible to meet the demands of the United Nations and the international community within the given 30 days,” Beda said.
Beda said the government had improved access for humanitarian supplies and sent 12,000 policemen and 40,000 troops to secure Darfur – a poor, arid region the size of France. The United Nations says up to 50,000 people have been killed there.
Beda criticised U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for failing to convince the Security Council to give Khartoum 90 days to meet its demands, leaving the 30-day deadline in place.
“We had an agreement with Kofi Annan to disarm the armed groups in 90 days. We are disappointed that the secretary-general was unable to get the backing of the members of the Security Council,” Beda said.
He also poured scorn on Washington’s interest in Darfur, saying President George W. Bush was just playing to the country’s large African American constituency before November’s presidential election.
Beda called the horse-mounted Janjaweed “a gang of thugs”, saying they crossed into Sudan, Africa’s largest country, from Chad and Libya.
“The government knew that these so-called Janjaweed were bandits who were burning villages and looting property, but since the (Sudanese) armed forces were in engaged in the south of the country, they did not take any action against them,” Beja said, referring to a separate conflict in Sudan’s south.
The Darfur rebellion has overshadowed peace talks to end 21 years of civil war that has killed an estimated two million people in the south.