US Threatens Action Against Sudan over Darfur Stalling!

"Extremely troubled" US threatens action against Sudan over Darfur stalling
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News Article by AFP posted on March 13, 2007 at 18:02:15: EST (-5 GMT)
"Extremely troubled" US threatens action against Sudan over Darfur stalling
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2007 (AFP) - The United States said Tuesday it was "extremely troubled" by Sudanese backtracking on a deal to boost peacekeeping forces in the war-torn Darfur region and could soon take tougher action against the Khartoum government in response.
The State Department said Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir was challenging aspects of a November agreement in which he pledged to allow a joint United Nations-African Union (AU) force of 20,000 troops into Darfur.
In a lengthy letter sent last week to the United Nations, Beshir notably said he would not accept certain elements of a so-called "heavy support package" that the UN was to provide to AU peacekeepers struggling to end the violence in Darfur.
"We're extremely troubled by the fact that that letter does seem to try to pick and choose among elements of the heavy support package," department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
"We continue to believe that the heavy support package needs to be provided for as soon as possible -- it's essential to help the African Union perform its peacekeeping obligations," Casey told reporters.
Casey said US and international patience was wearing out after months of "delaying tactics" by the Sudan government and that tougher measures would soon be required.
"To the extent that the government of Sudan does continue to try to frustrate implementation of the agreement, the US and the other representatives of the International Community are going to have to think seriously about implementing additional measures to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur," he said.
Casey did not elaborate, but US officials have in the past said they were considering measures ranging from political and financial sanctions against Khartoum to the imposition of a no-fly zone over Darfur.
More than 200,000 people have died and another 2.5 million left homeless since a rebellion by Darfur's ethnic African population erupted in early 2003, drawing a fierce response from the Arab-led government in Khartoum.
The worst violence, including torture, mutilations and systematic rape, have been blamed on a government-financed Arab militia known as the janjaweed.
An under-funded and ill-equipped AU force of 7,000 men has been unable to halt the violence, which the main UN human rights agency on Monday said amounted to war crimes by the Khartoum government.
"The situation is characterized by gross and systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international law. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue across the region," said a report by the UN Human Rights Council.