Sudan Calls U.S., British Pressure Unfair

Sudan's foreign minister accused the United States and Britain on Thursday of meddling in his country's humanitarian crisis, suggesting the two Western nations were repeating diplomatic steps they took before invading Iraq.

"The increase in pressure from the United States and Great Britain is ... the same as the increase in pressure that they put against Iraq," Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said at a news conference in Paris.

Ismail also said Britain should think twice before choosing a course of action in Darfur, a vast region of Sudan where a 15-month conflict has killed up to 30,000 people, forced over 1 million to flee their homes and left 2.2 million in desperate need of food and medicine. The death toll could surge to more than 350,000 if aid doesn't reach more than 2 million people soon, the U.S. Agency for International Development has warned.

According to British press reports, Prime Minister Tony Blair was ruling out "absolutely nothing" in responding to the crisis. But Ismail suggested it would be a mistake for Blair to send troops.

"If he is going to send troops to Darfur, we will withdraw our troops and give him a chance to maintain security," Ismail said.

"You know what is going to happen in one or two months, these troops are going to be considered by the people of Darfur as occupying forces, and you'll have the same incidents you are facing in Iraq."

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the international community may step in if Sudan's government doesn't act quickly to disarm Arab-backed militias in Darfur, where "systematic" human rights abuses are taking place.

Neither Annan nor his new special representative, Jan Pronk, set a deadline, but both said they want to see a rapid restoration of security in Darfur.

The Sudanese government has made "no progress whatsoever" in reining in the Janjaweed militia and other outlawed rebel groups as it promised in a July 3 agreement with Annan, though it has made progress in allowing humanitarian aid and workers into Darfur, Pronk said.

"The urgency is there and the Sudanese government doesn't have forever," Annan told a news conference after Pronk briefed the U.N. Security Council on the latest situation in Darfur.

"I regret to say that there are continuing reports of attacks by the Janjaweed," Annan said.

The secretary-general said the government as a first step should deploy the 6,000 police called for in the agreement, which could "dissuade attacks" and protect the people, many of whom are living "in sub-human conditions." But he stressed that this depends on having "the right kind of police" and Pronk said the initial deployment - which the government put at 3,600 officers - had not improved security.

The United States has been pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on the Sudanese government, which has been accused of supporting Arab militias blamed for atrocities against the black African population.

But Ismail said a draft resolution being considered by the Security Council to place sanctions on Sudan if it fails to act against the militias would only complicate matters.

"I don't know how such a resolution can be effective. We don't need any resolutions," he said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet Annan later Thursday to discuss what Danforth called the "monster" that the Sudanese government created. Both have made parallel fact-finding trips to Sudan.

Ismail said Sudan had arrested 100 members of the militia, known as Janjaweed, and was preparing to put them on trial. A day earlier, however, Pronk said the Sudanese government had made "no progress whatsoever" in reining in the militia.

Ismail said Sudan needed time to settle the problem.

In Geneva, African Union mediators hope to persuade rebel groups to resume peace talks, the organizers of a one-day meeting between the two groups said Thursday.

Talks to end the violence were suspended Saturday after just two days, as rebels claimed the Sudanese government has ignored existing peace agreements. They walked out of talks at the African Union headquarters at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, insisting the government fulfill a list of previous commitments before beginning a fresh round of negotiations.

The meditation team for Thursday's session in Geneva is led by Hamid Algabid, a former prime minister of Niger who is representing the African Union. The government of neighboring Chad and the United Nations are also represented on the team. The international facilitators are the United States, the European Union and the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.

Pope John Paul II sent a special emissary Thursday to Darfur to express his solidarity with the stricken population and urged the Sudanese government to put an end to human rights violation.

"The serious humanitarian situation in Darfur, which has recently stirred up a public outcry, is a cause of great concern" for the pope, said the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

By PAMELA SAMPSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS (AP) - Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.