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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58717-2005Jan8.html
Powell Ducks Question on Sudan Genocide
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 8, 2005; 11:12 AM
NAIROBI, Jan. 8 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell declined to say Saturday whether Sudan is still committing genocide as part of a campaign of rapes, killings and other abuses by government-sponsored Arab militias that has left 1.2 million black Africans homeless in the Darfur region.
Four months ago, in a dramatic statement, Powell said the government in Khartoum had conducted genocide and "genocide may still be occurring."
On Friday, in a report to the U.N. Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the situation in Darfur was deteriorating, with both rebels and the government violating cease-fire agreements and aid organizations having increasing difficulty reaching vulnerable areas. He said the Sudanese government was not taking action to bring militia leaders to justice and instead was including them in military operations.
But with Sudan's first vice president, Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, at his side, Powell ducked a question by a reporter about whether he believed Sudan is still conducting genocide in the region.
"It was my judgment that genocide was taking place," said Powell, who is in Nairobi to witness the signing Sunday of a comprehensive accord to end the conflict in southern Sudan. "I haven't seen the Secretary-General's latest report, but I look forward to examining it."
Powell said the southern Sudan peace accord, which is designed to end Africa's longest-running conflict, should help jumpstart efforts to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. He noted that the U.N. Security Council could still levy sanctions against Sudan, "and we do not take any of those options off the table."
The North-South agreement "gives us a basis now to redouble our efforts to solve the problem in Darfur," Powell said. "We will stand fully behind this comprehensive agreement and hopefully will use it to work on the problem of Darfur," which he called a "difficult, terrible conflict."
Some analysts have said Sudan's government has used the prospect of a North-South deal to divert the world's attention from the suffering in Darfur. But Taha told reporters that the Sudan government would "join hands to resolve [the] situation in Darfur so that finally we have national comprehensive peace in all parts of the country."
The North-South conflict, which has lasted nearly half a century with brief periods of peace, has pitted the northern, Muslim part of the country against the mostly animist and Christian south. The current round of peace talks has lasted a decade and involved not only questions of religion and autonomy but also how to carve up the nation's resources, especially oil reserves.
Under the agreement, the southern part of Sudan will have a six-year period of self-rule before holding a referendum on whether to remain part of the country or become independent. John Garang, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, who also met with Powell and Taha, will become vice president under the deal, which still faces long negotiations on its implementation.
NATO AIR said:disgusting... the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing... sec. powell, how do you sleep at night sitting next to a man who's part of the successful agenda to slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocent people?
manu1959 said:my guess is he sleeps as well as the rest of those in the world that are doing nothing....further...mr powell has no power to actually do anything...
