The worm squirms
Sudan Seeks Arab Help in Avoiding Sanctions
Sun Aug 8, 2004 11:11 AM ET
By Tom Perry
CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudan sought Arab help Sunday to head off possible sanctions threatened by the United Nations if Khartoum fails to rein in marauding militiamen accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing in its western Darfur region.
Sudan has about three weeks left to show the U.N. Security Council it is serious about disarming the Janjaweed militia. Darfur rebels say Khartoum is backing Janjaweed attacks to drive non-Arab villagers from their homes.
Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Khartoum was seeking political support from Arab ministers "which will lead to the halting of any attempts to target Sudan or issuing of sanctions against it."
The ministers were meeting at the Arab League in Cairo on Sunday for emergency discussions on Darfur, where the United Nations says fighting has killed 50,000, displaced 1 million and left 2 million short of food and medicine.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the Arabs were inclined toward helping Sudan avoid sanctions. The League has said the sanctions threat will not help resolve the humanitarian crisis.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Khartoum, which has agreed a plan with the United Nations to tackle the crisis, was proving its credibility.
The plan sets out steps to disarm the Janjaweed and other outlawed groups, improve security in Darfur and address the humanitarian crisis.
Jan Pronk, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Sudan, told reporters in Cairo he hoped the Arab League meeting would provide political support for the plan's implementation.
But New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the Arab League to put pressure on Sudan's government, not to protect it.
"Allowing the Sudanese government to hide its crimes behind Arab solidarity would be an insult to more than 1 million Muslim victims in Darfur," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the group's Africa division.
