INTERVIEW-Sudan says US genocide declaration political
By Jack Kim
SEOUL, Sept 10 (Reuters) – The Sudanese foreign minister rejected on Friday a U.S. declaration of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and said the United States was using a humanitarian crisis for political purposes.
Mustafa Osman Ismail told Reuters the declaration by U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday was “an isolated position” made in the heat of a presidential election to win African-American votes.
“They should not use a humanitarian problem for political agenda,” he said in English during a visit to South Korea.
“We know that an election is going on. We know the political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, are competing for the votes of African Americans,” Ismail said.
Rebels began an uprising in Darfur in February 2003 after years of skirmishes between mainly African farmers and Arab nomads over land and water. The government turned to the Janjaweed militias to help suppress the rebels.
The United Nations has estimated some 1.2 million people have fled their homes and up to 50,000 people have died from direct violence, starvation or illness in what it describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Ismail said it would be difficult for a U.S.-backed U.N. resolution for sanctions against Sudan to pass “because it is irrational and because it is politicised, because it is not balanced”.
“They want to jump to say there is genocide, as they jumped and said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,” he said of the United States, referring to the reason Washington and its allies gave for going to war in Iraq.
“Genocide is going on now by the American forces in Iraq. It’s going on now by the American forces in Afghanistan,” Ismail said after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
Ismail said the situation in Iraq had deteriorated and added: “The administration wants to deflect the concentration of the international community towards other areas.”
The United States declared on Thursday the violence in Darfur region amounted to genocide and urged the world to back an expanded African peacekeeping force to halt the bloodshed.
“We have concluded that genocide has taken place in Darfur,” Bush said. “Only outside action can stop the killing.”
But the Sudanese foreign minister said the view was not shared by others.
“The African Union at their summit said there is no genocide. The European Union said there is no genocide,” he said.
Ismail said Sudan knows there is “a humanitarian crisis” and the government would work for security, law and order and assistance for the people of Darfur.
“I hope that the Americans will deal with this issue in a rational way,” he said.
The government of Sudan has asked for increased human rights monitoring by the African Union and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.