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Further delays may lead to Sudan sanctions: US

The US warned that the Sudanese government could face further sanctions if it does not move quickly to approve a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur.

At Sudan's insistence, the UN Security Council agreed that the joint African Union-UN force would be predominantly African. But diplomats said Sudan has not yet approved units from Thailand, Nepal and Norway -- even though 90 percent of the ground troops and 75 percent of the entire proposed force are from Africa.

"Now the ball is in the court of the Sudanese government," US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters on Thursday. "It's very important that quickly they embrace this proposed package. Otherwise, I'm certain the United States will be looking at measures to `incentivize' cooperation, and that includes further sanctions."

He said that a number of countries believe "that we need to press the government hard again."

African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare and others working with the Sudanese government are "optimistic that they will get a positive response," Khalilzad said.

Sudan's UN Ambassador Abdelmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed told reporters on Wednesday that his government wanted to ensure "they have utilized to the maximum the African pledges and the African offers."

If African countries don't provide the necessary troops, "then we will look for others," he said.

"There are visits to be made to troop-contributing countries to assess their preparedness," Mohamed said. "The dialogue is going on, the keenness by the Sudan is there, and we are committed to the time frame" for deployment of the hybrid force.

He said, "We are very adamant about the African character of the cooperation. On this, there will be no compromise at all."

On Wednesday, the Security Council expressed "deep concern at the delays" in getting the troops on the ground.

The council also urged all rebel groups to attend peace talks with the Sudanese government starting today to try to end the four-year conflict in Darfur and threatened "action" against any party seeking to undermine the peace process.

Mohamed has said the government will announce a ceasefire at the start of the peace talks in Libya as "a confidence building measure."

But whether all rebel groups will match a government ceasefire remains doubtful because several are boycotting the talks.

More than 200,000 people have died since ethnic African rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in 2003, accusing it of decades of discrimination and neglect.

Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed -- a charge it denies.

The government signed a peace agreement with one rebel group in May of last year, but other rebel groups refused -- and many of those groups have since splintered, complicating prospects for a political settlement.
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