WASHINGTON—The United States and Britain, ratcheting up the pressure on Sudan, threatened it on Wednesday with sanctions and other punitive measures unless it agreed to accept a robust U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur.
President George W. Bush, impatient at the failure to halt the violence in the troubled region, warned Sudan's president he had one last chance to avoid sanctions by agreeing to the deployment of a full joint U.N.-African Union force.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said talks would begin on Thursday on a new U.N. Security Council resolution to try to end the violence in Darfur.
"What is happening in Sudan at the moment is unacceptable, is appalling and is a scandal for the international community," Blair told reporters.
U.S. State Department No. 2 John Negroponte, on an African tour, reinforced the message by urging Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to back the deployment of international peacekeepers in Darfur and on the Chad/Central African Republic border.
Sudan agreed on Monday to a 'hybrid operation' in which 3,000 U.N. personnel and heavy support equipment would reinforce African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, but refused to accept the larger U.N. force, of some 10,000 more troops, that the Western powers believe are needed.
The 5,000 AU peacekeepers have been unable to stem the violence in Darfur, a territory as big as France, where at least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million made homeless since 2003 in ethnic and political conflict triggered by a rebellion.
The violence has now spilled over to Chad and Central African Republic.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said earlier in an interview in Dubai that the United States and Britain should help secure U.N. funds for the AU peacekeepers already on the ground in Darfur instead of pushing for a larger U.N. force.
"Last Chance"
Bush, speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, said he had decided to give U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon more time to pursue diplomacy with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir but made clear his patience was limited.
"President Bashir should take the last chance by responding to the secretary general's efforts and to meet the just demands of the international community," Bush said.
"I'm looking at what steps the international community could take to deny Sudan's government the ability to fly its military aircraft over Darfur, and if we don't begin to see signs of good-faith commitments, we will hear calls for even sterner measures. The situation doesn't have to come to that," he said.
He accused Bashir of routinely violating past agreements.
"Sudan's government has moved arms to Darfur, conducted bombing raids on villages. They've used military vehicles and aircraft that are painted white, which makes them look like those deployed by humanitarian agencies and peacekeeping forces," Bush said.
Bush said to avoid sanctions Bashir must allow deployment of a full U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur, end support for Janjaweed militias, reach out to rebel leaders and let humanitarian aid reach the people of Darfur.
Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte told reporters in Tripoli he had urged the Libyans "to support the deployment of two international peacekeeping forces in the region."
"The first is a hybrid UN-African Union force for Darfur, with a single unified chain of command that conforms to U.N. standards and practices."
"The second is a U.N. peacekeeping force for eastern Chad and the northeastern Central African Republic. These robust international forces are necessary to improve the security of affected populations."
Libya, a regional mediator, promotes African solutions to African problems and Gaddafi has in the past denounced non-African involvement in African peacekeeping as a new form of colonialism.
Bush, outlining the sanctions Sudan would face if it did not change its position, said the Treasury Department would bar 29 companies owned or controlled by the government of Sudan from the U.S. financial system, making it a crime for American companies to do business with them.
Washington would also target sanctions against individuals responsible for violence.
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