US: US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice told Sudan in firm terms yesterday it must choose between "co-operation and confrontation" with the rest of the world and accept a UN force for Darfur.
Khartoum's new military offensive in the western region of Darfur makes international pressure all the more urgent, Dr Rice told the Africa Society in a speech.
"Innocent people are suffering and dying. The humanitarian situation, already tenuous, is at risk of becoming a complete disaster. And the hope of peace is now in danger of collapsing altogether," she said of Darfur. "We are not going to sit by and watch this kind of death and destruction continue and we will use whatever tools are necessary, through the UN, to be able to stop that."
Dr Rice called for an immediate ceasefire between government forces and rebels and said if rebel groups continued to refuse to sign on to the May Darfur peace deal, they would face targeted UN sanctions.
Khartoum says it will not allow a UN peacekeeping force in, equating such a mission to "colonialism". - (Reuters)