Sudan warns US and UK against Darfur sanctions

Friday July 9th, 2004.

KHARTOUM, July 9 (Reuters) - Sudan has warned the United States and Britain against imposing sanctions on Khartoum over violence in Darfur and landing the world in an Iraq-style quagmire, the official SUNA news agency said on Friday.

"The American and British voices that call for the imposition of sanctions on Sudan are those that dragged the world into the Iraq problem," Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail was quoted as saying.

"I hope that they will not drag the world into a new problem from which it will be difficult to extricate itself and that is the problem of Darfur," Ismail said. He did not elaborate.

Washington said on Thursday Sudan must act immediately to stop Arab militia attacks on African villages in Darfur or face unspecified further measures by the international community. The United Nations says the world's worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Darfur in western Sudan.

Human rights groups say the Arab militia act with the connivance of the government. Khartoum has denied the charge and says it is disarming the militia, known as Janjaweed.

A draft U.N. resolution, drawn up by Washington, imposes arms and travel bans on Janjaweed leaders and threatens to step up the sanctions within 30 days if results are not evident.

Britain, France, Germany and other European countries on the Security Council support the U.S. position.

"It appears that there is a conspiracy against Sudan and we must prepare for it and be cautious," Ismail said.

The United Nations says fighting in Darfur, where rebels took up arms against Khartoum in February 2003, has displaced one million people. Between 10,000 and 30,000 are estimated to have died.