Sudan faces US sanctions if no peace deal is struck on Darfur

UNITED NATIONS – The United States next week intends to tell Sudan and its southern opposition that offers of aid may be withdrawn if an agreement is not signed soon to end Africa’s longest-running civil war, its UN ambassador said.

The UN Security Council is conducting a rare formal session in Nairobi Nov. 18-19 to pressure all parties to sign an agreement in the south by the end of the year and solve the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan.Although headlines have focused on Darfur, council members are worried that preliminary agreements in the south may unravel.The United States and the European Union have put on hold promises of funds for all sides until a pact is signed.A draft resolution to be adopted in Nairobi “encourages” the World Bank and others to develop a reconstruction and economic development package, including debt forgiveness, once an agreement is reached in the south.US Ambassador John Danforth, the current council president and organiser of the trip, went further and said some offers would not last forever.”We have been waiting for action by the government of Sudan and by the (southern) Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) for a very long period of time,” he said recently.”But it would be presumptuous to say, and I think it would be wrong to think, that any offer that’s put on the table by the international community will be there for long,” Danforth said.The UN mission, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will meet privately with with Sudanese ministers, rebel leaders and African officials.Six protocols have already been signed between Khartoum and the SPLM, but are not in force.They include agreements on governmental power sharing, the country’s oil wealth as well as integrated security forces in southern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, the Southern Blue Nile and Khartoum.In the past 21 years, 2 million people, mostly civilians, have died from violence in the south as well as disease and famine in a country rich in oil.- Nampa-Reuters18-19 to pressure all parties to sign an agreement in the south by the end of the year and solve the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan.Although headlines have focused on Darfur, council members are worried that preliminary agreements in the south may unravel.The United States and the European Union have put on hold promises of funds for all sides until a pact is signed.A draft resolution to be adopted in Nairobi “encourages” the World Bank and others to develop a reconstruction and economic development package, including debt forgiveness, once an agreement is reached in the south.US Ambassador John Danforth, the current council president and organiser of the trip, went further and said some offers would not last forever.”We have been waiting for action by the government of Sudan and by the (southern) Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) for a very long period of time,” he said recently.”But it would be presumptuous to say, and I think it would be wrong to think, that any offer that’s put on the table by the international community will be there for long,” Danforth said.The UN mission, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will meet privately with with Sudanese ministers, rebel leaders and African officials.Six protocols have already been signed between Khartoum and the SPLM, but are not in force.They include agreements on governmental power sharing, the country’s oil wealth as well as integrated security forces in southern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, the Southern Blue Nile and Khartoum.In the past 21 years, 2 million people, mostly civilians, have died from violence in the south as well as disease and famine in a country rich in oil.- Nampa-Reuters