The United States has stepped up its sanctions against Sudan and announced that it will press the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new package of international sanctions, including an expanded weapons embargo and the prohibition of military flights over Darfur.
Announcing the new measures at the White House Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush said the Sudanese government was responsible for "genocide" in Darfur, and the world had a responsibility to end it.
"For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder, and rape of innocent civilians," President Bush said.
The United States would "more aggressively enforce existing sanctions," he said. It would:
- Bar 31 companies from the American financial system, and make it a crime for U.S. companies and individuals to knowingly to business with them; and
- Impose sanctions against individuals responsible for violence, cutting them also off from the American financial system and stopping them from doing business with Americans.
Bush said he was also directing his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to consult with Britain and other allies on a new Security Council resolution seeking to impose similar sanctions - against the Sudanese government and individuals - worldwide.
In addition, the U.S. would propose a wider arms embargo and seek to prohibit the Sudanese government "from conducting any offensive military flights over Darfur."
Full text of President Bush's statement:
