US issues strong warning to Sudan over Darfur

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (AFP) — The United States on Friday renewed its “grave concerns” over violence in Sudan’s Darfur region and said flatly it would not fully normalize ties with Khartoum until the conflict was resolved.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the situation in Darfur, where some 70,000 people have died and 1.6 million have been displaced in the last two years, remained a “major priority” for Washington.

“We take this opportunity to underscore our grave concerns about the violence and atrocities in Darfur,” Boucher said, referring to the conflict pitting government forces and their militia allies against rebels.

“The United States will not fully normalize relations with Sudan until the situation in Darfur has stabilized.”

The United States continues to label the violence in Darfur as genocide and on Monday proposed new targeted UN sanctions for Sudan in what it called a bid to get both the government and rebels to end the bloodshed.

Boucher said the United States was taking a number of diplomatic actions to bolster its presence in the Sudan and support the comprehensive peace agreement recently achieved.

Washington has named a new charge d’affaires in Khartoum, David Kaeuper, and the embassy has sent an official to southern Sudan to establish a diplomatic presence there, he said.

A US envoy was also named to a commission dealing with one of the country’s border disputes and another was to be appointed to monitor implementation of any agreements.

Boucher said the comprehensive peace accord “provides a sound basis for achieving stability and national unity throughout Sudan, particularly with respect to Darfur and the areas still affected by conflict,” Boucher said.

“We urge both sides to implement the agreement fully and rapidly and to seize this opportunity to solve the crisis in Darfur,” he said, pledging strong continued US support for African Union peace efforts