US Congress approves 200 million dollars in Sudan aid, sanctions on Khartoum

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (AFP) — The US Senate gave final approval to a bill providing some 200 million dollars in aid for refugees in Sudan, while punishing the government for failing to stop atrocities there.

Sen. Richard Lugar, Republican from Indiana and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (AP).

The the “Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004” is meant to provide assistance to thousands of refugees in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan, the bill’s author said.

“The Darfur crisis only reinforces the need for the international community to act, and the importance of making a long-term investment in Africas future to break the chains of misrule, corruption, instability, war, poverty and famine and to prevent such crises in the first place,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, said after approval of the bill.

The legislation aims to respond to the genocide in Darfur, providing support for the deployment of additional African Union forces to the region.

The bill also sanctions the government of Sudan for its continued failure to intervene to stop the atrocities in Darfur, imposing an asset freeze on senior Sudanese officials and calling upon US President George W. Bush to impose a travel ban on senior Sudanese officials.

The legislation also authorizes 100 million dollars as an incentive for the warring parties to reach a final and comprehensive peace agreement.

“This bill will immediately provide assistance to the people of Darfur, but it will also impose sanctions on those responsible for the policies and atrocities of genocide,” Lugar said.

The lawmaker who authored the House of Representatives’ version of the bill, Tom Tancredo, applauded the legislation’s passage.

“We are beyond the point of threatening the government of Sudan with punitive measures,” said Tancredo, a Republican member of the House International Relations Committee.

“Genocide has been, is being, committed … we now need to show that there are consequences for destroying human life on such a massive scale,” he said.