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Sudan tells U.S. to back off
Sudan officials have warned the United States the sanctions it is seeking against the Khartoum government will only worsen the Darfur crisis. Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said the United States risks creating another Iraq-style quagmire if it becomes overly assertive about Sudanâs Darfur problem, the BBC reported Saturday. The U.N. Security Council this week debated a U.S. draft resolution to impose sanctions of an Arab militia, known as the Janjaweed, accused of widespread atrocities black Sudanese. Khartoum sends fighter-bombers to attack black villages in Darfur, and then the Janjaweed ride into the villages on horses and camels, killing the men and raping the women, outside observers report. The strategy has caused one million black Sudanese to flee their homes and left another 10,000 dead since last year.The draft U.N. resolution includes sanctions against leaders of the Janjaweed, which could be widened to include the Khartoum government that supports it. Ismail said these sanctions risked "weakening the credibility of agreements" made with the United States and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the Sudan government to disarm the Janjaweed. France has also said it does not support extending the sanctions to the Khartoum government itself. Interestingly, Germanyâs FM Fischer calls for action... Posted by: .com 2004-07-10 |
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