Darfur activists are concerned that the latest comments by a US special envoy for Sudan are a sign the US is easing pressure on Khartoum.
They are also expressing impatience over the Obama administration’s delay of a policy review on Sudan after US President Barack Obama’s promise as a candidate of immediate action on Darfur.
On Thursday, the special envoy, Scott Gration, appeared to argue for easing sanctions when he told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that there was no evidence to back up the US designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.
PHOTO: AFP
He said that the sanctions were hindering his work and called the terrorism designation “a political decision.”
On Friday, the US State Department said that it still considered Sudan a sponsor of terrorism.
Recently, Gration also irked US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice when he said the situation in Darfur was no longer a “genocide” but reflected the “remnants of genocide.”
Gration said that the violence that has killed up to 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million had subsided.
Those comments have provoked outrage among some activists.
Immediately after the hearing, John Norris, the executive director of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide advocacy group, said the comments sent the wrong signal.
“I am sure his statements will be received with something akin to glee in Khartoum,” he said.
Indeed, the Sudanese government on Friday called Gration’s comments on the terrorism list a “positive signal.”
“The Darfuris who I talk to are beside themselves with worry about these statements by Gration,” said Eric Cohen, the chair of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur. “Time after time, he seems to be speaking the lines of the Sudanese government.”
Some activist, are also expressing a wider concern that more than six months into office, the Obama administration has repeatedly delayed its release of a policy review on Sudan. The holdup comes amid an apparent debate within the administration about how to balance interests such as cooperation on fighting al-Qaeda with concerns including violence in Darfur and how to keep a separate conflict between the country’s north and south from reigniting.
Activists say that there was hope that Obama would move more aggressively on Darfur than the Bush administration did. They point to statements by Obama while campaigning for president that he would take immediate steps to pressure the Sudanese government to end killing in Darfur.
“What is concerning is that we have been told for a number of months that the plan will be released in the next few weeks and that leads us to believe there may be some unknown reason for the delay,” said Sam Bell, the executive director, Genocide Intervention Network.
While the administration promises to finish its review, it has been emphasizing improvements by the government of Sudan. Gration says that the Khartoum government has been helpful in stopping the flow of weapons and in dealing with key members of the terror group al-Qaeda.
Sudan, meanwhile, is pushing for stronger diplomatic ties with the US, the lifting of sanctions and its removal from the US list of states said to sponsor terrorism.
Sanctions, Gration said, affect the ability of aid workers to ship in heavy equipment to build roads and other crucial material.
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