Egypt says doesn’t approve sanctions against Sudan

CAIRO, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Egypt said on Saturday that it did not approve of sanctions or the threat of sanctions in dealing with the crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

In implicit criticism of the United States, presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah said the world should first give time for U.N. and African Union plans to produce results.

“We do not approve of resorting to sanctions or the threat of them as a way to deal with the Sudanese matter,” he added.

In a draft U.N. resolution circulated this week, the United States proposed imposing sanctions on Sudan’s oil industry if Khartoum does not disarm the Janajweed militias blamed for driving more than a million Darfuris from their homes.

The Egyptian government has pressed the Sudanese government to meet international demands on Darfur, while at the same time urging the United States to give Khartoum more time.

(Writing by Jonathan Wright, Cairo bureau, +20-2-578-3290))