Steve Savicki
04-18-2007, 01:34 PM
http://www.yahoo.com/s/559583
President Bush, ramping up pressure on Sudan, said Wednesday the United States will tighten economic sanctions and impose new ones if Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir does not take quick, concrete steps to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.
Bush said the Sudanese government must allow U.N. support forces, facilitate deployment of a full U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, stop supporting violent militias and let humanitarian aid reach the people of Darfur.
"The world needs to act," Bush said. "If President al-Bashir does not meet his obligations, the United States of America will act."
Bush said the United States would tighten economic sanctions on Sudan, barring certain companies from taking part in the U.S. financial system; target sanctions on individuals responsible for violence; and apply new sanctions against the government of Sudan.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the four-year conflict in Darfur, which began when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government. The government is accused of responding by unleashing the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads, blamed for indiscriminate killing. The government denies the charges.
"It is evil we're now seeing in Sudan and we're not going to back down," Bush said.
The current force of 7,000 AU peacekeepers has been unable to stop the fighting in a region the size of Texas. About 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes in Darfur and are living in poorly protected camps in the province and eastern Chad.
The United Nations and U.S. have been pushing Sudan to accept thousands more U.N. troops to build up a combined AU-U.N. force of 20,000. The Sudanese president has repeatedly rejected a U.N. force, but his recent agreement to accept 3,000 U.N. troops could be a sign that the pressure is beginning to have an effect.
The Sudanese government, however, has reversed position in the past after appearing to agree to a peacekeeping mission.
David C. Rubenstein, director of the Save Darfur Coalition, is skeptical.
"His regime makes promises, signs agreements and makes pledges — only to hedge, qualify and renege on their commitments," Rubenstein said. "President Bashir has been one broken promise after another, and we fear this concession may be an extension of that trend."
Bush said he wants to give U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon more time to pursue diplomatic efforts, but that if al-Bashir does not act quickly, the U.S. will take action. He did not say how long he would wait before levying harsher punishments.
Bush said the
Treasury Department would tighten U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan. That would allow the United States to block any of the Sudan government's dollar transactions within the U.S. system. The Treasury Department also would add 29 companies owned or controlled by the Sudanese government to a list that will make it a crime for American companies and individuals to do business with them.
Secondly, the U.S. would target sanctions on individuals held responsible for violence. That will cut them off from the U.S. financial system, preventing them, too, from doing business with U.S. companies or individuals and "calling the world's attention to their crimes," Bush said.
Bush said he will direct the secretary of state to prepare a
U.N. Security Council resolution to apply new sanctions against the government of Sudan and people found to be violating human rights or obstructing peace. The resolution would also impose an expanded embargo on arms sales to Sudan, prohibit Sudan's government from conducting offensive military flights over Darfur and strengthen the U.S. ability to monitor and report any violations, Bush said.
Bush spoke at the U.S. Holocaust Museum to a crowd that included Holocaust survivors. He honored Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who died trying to keep a gunman from shooting his students in the killing spree at Virginia Tech. Librescu, an aeronautics engineer and teacher at the school for 20 years, saved the lives of several students by using his body to barricade a classroom door before he was gunned down in Monday's massacre.
"We take strength from his example," said Bush, who took a brief tour of the museum, which is marking the National Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust in which Nazi Germany and its collaborators killed an estimated 6 million Jews.
<center>http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070418/capt.e7f00381f8af4e848e815209da033519.bush_us_suda n_dcpm103.jpg?x=380&y=268&sig=en2ItYlLcZXnpBKMLnwn6w--</center>
I thought Bush was trying to set an example by working with Iraq. How does one convince others that they're working with wise decisions if they are threatening? Back to day 1 in office...
President Bush, ramping up pressure on Sudan, said Wednesday the United States will tighten economic sanctions and impose new ones if Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir does not take quick, concrete steps to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.
Bush said the Sudanese government must allow U.N. support forces, facilitate deployment of a full U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, stop supporting violent militias and let humanitarian aid reach the people of Darfur.
"The world needs to act," Bush said. "If President al-Bashir does not meet his obligations, the United States of America will act."
Bush said the United States would tighten economic sanctions on Sudan, barring certain companies from taking part in the U.S. financial system; target sanctions on individuals responsible for violence; and apply new sanctions against the government of Sudan.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the four-year conflict in Darfur, which began when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government. The government is accused of responding by unleashing the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads, blamed for indiscriminate killing. The government denies the charges.
"It is evil we're now seeing in Sudan and we're not going to back down," Bush said.
The current force of 7,000 AU peacekeepers has been unable to stop the fighting in a region the size of Texas. About 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes in Darfur and are living in poorly protected camps in the province and eastern Chad.
The United Nations and U.S. have been pushing Sudan to accept thousands more U.N. troops to build up a combined AU-U.N. force of 20,000. The Sudanese president has repeatedly rejected a U.N. force, but his recent agreement to accept 3,000 U.N. troops could be a sign that the pressure is beginning to have an effect.
The Sudanese government, however, has reversed position in the past after appearing to agree to a peacekeeping mission.
David C. Rubenstein, director of the Save Darfur Coalition, is skeptical.
"His regime makes promises, signs agreements and makes pledges — only to hedge, qualify and renege on their commitments," Rubenstein said. "President Bashir has been one broken promise after another, and we fear this concession may be an extension of that trend."
Bush said he wants to give U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon more time to pursue diplomatic efforts, but that if al-Bashir does not act quickly, the U.S. will take action. He did not say how long he would wait before levying harsher punishments.
Bush said the
Treasury Department would tighten U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan. That would allow the United States to block any of the Sudan government's dollar transactions within the U.S. system. The Treasury Department also would add 29 companies owned or controlled by the Sudanese government to a list that will make it a crime for American companies and individuals to do business with them.
Secondly, the U.S. would target sanctions on individuals held responsible for violence. That will cut them off from the U.S. financial system, preventing them, too, from doing business with U.S. companies or individuals and "calling the world's attention to their crimes," Bush said.
Bush said he will direct the secretary of state to prepare a
U.N. Security Council resolution to apply new sanctions against the government of Sudan and people found to be violating human rights or obstructing peace. The resolution would also impose an expanded embargo on arms sales to Sudan, prohibit Sudan's government from conducting offensive military flights over Darfur and strengthen the U.S. ability to monitor and report any violations, Bush said.
Bush spoke at the U.S. Holocaust Museum to a crowd that included Holocaust survivors. He honored Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who died trying to keep a gunman from shooting his students in the killing spree at Virginia Tech. Librescu, an aeronautics engineer and teacher at the school for 20 years, saved the lives of several students by using his body to barricade a classroom door before he was gunned down in Monday's massacre.
"We take strength from his example," said Bush, who took a brief tour of the museum, which is marking the National Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust in which Nazi Germany and its collaborators killed an estimated 6 million Jews.
<center>http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070418/capt.e7f00381f8af4e848e815209da033519.bush_us_suda n_dcpm103.jpg?x=380&y=268&sig=en2ItYlLcZXnpBKMLnwn6w--</center>
I thought Bush was trying to set an example by working with Iraq. How does one convince others that they're working with wise decisions if they are threatening? Back to day 1 in office...