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Powell, Annan Threaten Sudan With UN Action
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Powell
said unless some movement were taken "it may be necessary for the
international community to begin considering other actions"
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KHARTOUM,
June 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US Secretary of
State Colin Powell threatened Tuesday, June 29, Sudan with an
unspecified UN Security Council action if it failed to crack down on
Arab militias in Darfur.
The
threat was coupled with a similar one from UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan who said that his visit to
Darfur
could be followed by international sanctions "depending on what
we see on the ground".
"Unless
we see more movement soon on all of these areas it may be necessary
for the international community to begin considering other actions, to
include Security Council action," Powell told a news conference
here with his Sudanese counterpart Mustafa Osman Ismail.
Making
the first visit to
Sudan
by such a high-level
US
official in more than two decades, Powell declined to specify what
action
Washington
would take against
Sudan
, reported Reuters.
But
he warned that the
United States
was already working on a UN resolution about
Darfur
that could lead to international sanctions against
Africa
's largest country.
Powell
said he had told Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in a
"candid, direct" conversation to end attacks by the Arab
militias, provide full access for humanitarian aid, restart political
talks with rebel groups in
Darfur
and allow more international cease-fire monitors into the region.
Washington
's top diplomat visits
Sudan
against a backdrop of an avalanche of claims that genocide was being
committed systematically against the Africans in
Darfur
.
"People
are dying and the death rate is going to go up significantly ... we
see indicators and elements that would start to move you toward a
genocidal conclusion, but we're not there yet," Powell said en
route to
Khartoum
from
Turkey
.
International
Intervention
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"If that government is not able or willing to do it, the international community has to do something about it," said Annan
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Annan
also said that United Nations member states should consider
intervening to protect two million people caught in the fighting.
"Depending
on what we see on the ground, the council may have to take further
steps," he said in response to questions about possible punitive
measures against
Sudan
.
"If
that government is not able or willing to do it, the international
community has to do something about it," he told a news
conference Tuesday in the Qatari capital
Doha
.
The
UN chief declined to set a timetable for
Khartoum
, but said he would discuss the issue with African leaders during his
trip.
"The
government has committed to disarm the militias and protect its
people. This is one of the issues I will discuss with them,"
Annan said.
He
added that
Khartoum
had to give non-governmental organizations access to
Darfur
and allow humanitarian equipment into the country.
Annan
was due to travel to
Khartoum
Tuesday for official meetings and then head to a camp in
Darfur
.
After
that he flies to neighboring
Chad
to meet government leaders and visit a Sudanese refugee camp before
returning to
Khartoum
.
He
will also visit the Kenyan capital
Nairobi
to meet government leaders and negotiators of an agreement between
Sudanese leaders and southern rebels.
"We
cannot talk of comprehensive peace in
Sudan
if the gross and systematic abuse of human rights in west
Sudan
,
Darfur
, continues," Annan said.
More
than 10,000 people are said to have died in
Darfur
and more than a million been driven from their homes since the revolt
against the government broke out among indigenous ethnic minorities in
February 2003.
The
United Nations has labeled the 16-month-old conflict as the world's
worst current humanitarian crisis.
‘No
Famine’
The
Sudanese foreign minister said he hoped that during Powell's visit
they could agree on how to manage the security and humanitarian crisis
in the region, vowing to disarm the militias, known as Janjaweed.
"We
believe there is no famine, no epidemic [disease] but that does not
mean there is no humanitarian problem that needs to be
addressed," Ismail said.
The
Sudanese government frequently rejected charges that it supports the
Janjaweed and played down the severity of the current humanitarian
crisis.
Darfur
is one of the world's hardest-to-reach regions, making humanitarian
access extremely difficult.
Kuwait
has sent its second
aid convoy to
Darfur
, including fifteen tones of tents, 40 tones of corn products and 20
tones of wheat, for distribution among the local inhabitants.
This
came days after a Kuwaiti Muslim relief group sent aid to the war-torn
region to counter blooming
proselytizing activity under the guise of humanitarian
relief.
An
Egyptian medical convoy was
sent to southern
Sudan
May 5, becoming the first Arab relief aid to the region in 10 years.
The
United States
has spent $116 million on humanitarian relief for
Sudan
over the past year and has an additional $164 million in the pipeline.
The
aid delivered thus far has consisted mostly of airlifted food,
blankets and plastic sheeting.
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