Wednesday, 30 May 2007WASHINGTON ÔÇö US President George Bush announced on Tuesday, May 29, a new package of stiffer sanctions against Sudan over the humanitarian situation in troubled Darfur, drawing mixed reactions from the UN Security Council veto-wielding members.
"The Department of Treasury is tightening US economic sanctions on Sudan," Bush said in a press conference cited by Agence France Presse (AFP).
The US blocked the assets of three Sudanese, 30 government owned or controlled companies, and a company that violated the arms embargo in Darfur, virtually denying them access to the US and international financial system.
Among the companies targeted were GIAD Industrial City, a supplier of armored vehicles to the Sudanese government for military operations in Darfur, and Sudatel, the national telecommunications company, said the Department of Treasury.
Five firms in the petrochemical sector were designated: Advanced Petroleum Company, RAM Energy Company, Bashaier, Hi-Tech Petroleum Group and Hi-Tech Chemicals.
The company targeted for violating the arms embargo in Darfur was Azza Air Transport Company.
"These companies have supplied cash to the Beshir regime, enabling it to purchase arms and further fuel the fighting in Darfur," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.
Under the Treasury's order, the assets owned by these individuals and entities within US jurisdiction must be frozen, and US citizens are prohibited from doing business with them.
The US first imposed sanctions on the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Beshir in 1997.
Mixed Reactions
"It will only make achieving a solution more complicated," Guijin said.
Bush said his administration will push for a new UN Security Council resolution against Khartoum.
He directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to seek a new UN resolution broadening economic sanctions on Sudan's leaders, expanding an arms embargo and barring Sudanese military flights over Darfur.
US officials expressed guarded optimism that the new punitive measures would compel Sudan to accept the deployment of a hybrid UN-African Union force and let humanitarian aid reach Darfur.
The sanctions drew mixed reactions even before it was officially announced.
"These willful sanctions and simply applying pressure is not conducive to solving the problem," said Liu Guijin, China's special representative on the Darfur issue.
"It will only make achieving a solution more complicated."
Britain, the US closest ally, welcomed the new sanctions, saying pressure must be increased on Khartoum.
"We welcome any moves from the US and others in adding to the pressure on President [Omar Hassan] Bashir because what is happening in Sudan is not acceptable by any international standards," a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
France said Tuesday it is "open to discussion" on possible new sanctions on Sudan.
"Some of our partners are pushing pretty hard for new sanctions. The discussions are ongoing, and we will examine whatever proposals are made about a possible toughening," said foreign ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau.
Unfazed
The Khartoum government criticized the new sanctions as further complicating the situation rather than helping to solve it.
"I think these sanctions are not justified. It is not timely," Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Mutrif Siddig told Reuters in Khartoum.
"We are cooperating well with the United Nations."
Siddig insisted the expanded US sanctions would not "at all" affect Sudan's response to the UN hybrid force proposal.
"We isolate the US position from the UN position," he said, fearing the move would send a "confusing signal".
The UN Security Council has endorsed a plan for a so-called hybrid force that envisions more than 23,000 African Union and UN troops and police to protect civilians in Darfur and use force to deter violence.
On April 16, Khartoum accepted the dispatch of 3,000 UN personnel, mostly military and police staff, to provide logistical, communications and air support to 7,000 African peacekeepers.
The United Nations estimates the Darfur conflict has cost at least 200,000 lives and forced more than two million people from their homes.
May 30, 2007
Islam Online |
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
US
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