KHARTOUM, July 28: Egypt and the Arab League tried to put the brakes on the campaign for sanctions against Sudan on Wednesday as the Khartoum government blamed rebels in the western region of Darfur for the humanitarian crisis there.
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that time was running out for the victims of the conflict in Darfur 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 told Egyptian television.
The World Food Programme (WFP), which is trying to feed hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict, said it needed over 100 million dollars 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 organizations say the 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 allegedly been killed in the last 18 months, has produced a backlash in the Arab world, where many suspect that the United States, Britain and their allies in Iraq have ulterior motives.
EGYPT'S CALL: Egypt asked the United States to give Sudan government more time to meet its commitment to stop the Janjaweed. But US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was in Cairo on Wednesday, 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."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit, speaking alongside him, said: "I told the secretary of state of the importance of giving the element of time to the Sudanese government to carry out what it has taken upon itself in the way of commitments."
Mr Powell voiced impatience with pressure for Sudan to be given up to a month to act before sanctions were imposed: "Why do they need a month? What is it that they need a month to do that they can't do right now?" he told Egypt's Al Akhbar newspaper. But the Arab League, which includes all Arab countries, said sanctions would not help resolve what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. -Reuters
