SUDAN: Egypt and the Arab League tried to put the brakes on the campaign for sanctions against Sudan yesterday as the Sudanese government blamed rebels in the western region of Darfur for the humanitarian crisis there.
But US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said time was running out for the victims of Darfur's conflict and the international community should keep up the pressure on Khartoum.
"It is not enough of an excuse to say, 'Well we don't want to put sanctions on this regime. We'd rather just see several hundred thousand people go through this terrible period where so many of them will die'," he said.
The World Food Programme (WFP), which is trying to feed hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict, said it needed more than $100 million more this year to fund its Sudanese activity.
The Sudanese government is under threat of UN sanctions if it does not crack down on the Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, blamed for driving non-Arab villagers off the land in an arid region the size of France. Washington wants the Security Council to vote to set a deadline for sanctions this week.
Khartoum says it is doing its best to comply but needs more time to deploy more forces in Darfur. Relief organisations say the Islamist government has at least made significant improvements on access to Darfur for humanitarian workers.
A minister accused rebels of killing nearly 1,500 civilians and disrupting aid flows since a ceasefire deal four months ago, prompting a major rebel group to deny mounting any offensives.
The international furore over Darfur, where some 30,000 people have been killed in the last 18 months, has produced a backlash in the Arab world, where many suspect US, Britain and their allies in Iraq have ulterior motives.
Egypt asked the US to give the Sudan government more time to meet its commitment to stop the Janjaweed, which has set villages ablaze, killed and raped as allies of the government against two rebel movements which took up arms in early 2003.
But Mr Powell, who was visiting Cairo, replied that inaction could cost lives.
"We should give the Sudanese government time to respond, but these people [the Darfuris\] don't have that much time before disease and famine take tens of thousands of lives," he said.
"Nobody wishes to make the situation any worse with respect to the imposition of sanctions but at the same time pressure must be kept on the Sudanese government to make sure that access is allowed and that security is improved."
Sudan's government accused the rebels of killing 1,460 civilians since a ceasefire in early April. It was the first time it had given such a figure. But one of two main Darfur rebel groups said it had not begun any military operations since signing the truce. - (Reuters)