Global Policy Forum

The Sudanese government said Tuesday that the United States was hindering its negotiations to end the 20-year civil war with the southern rebels by raising the threat of sanctions. The US State Department earlier this month warned that the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had until April 21 to ink an agreement or leave themselves open to penalties called for by US law.

The official Al Anbaa daily quoted Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail as calling on Washington not to emit "negative" signals like "brandishing" the Sudan Peace Act which "obstructs the progress of the negotiations". Under the 2001 Sudan Peace Act, President George W. Bush must determine every six months whether Khartoum and the SPLA are making good faith efforts to reach an agreement and can impose sanctions on one side, the other or both depending on his findings. The next determination is due on April 21.

Under the law, the United States can seek a UN arms embargo on the Sudanese government and restrict its access to credit and oil revenue if Khartoum is found to have obstructed a peaceful resolution to the conflict. At the same time, the law provides for cutting ties with the SPLA and other punitive measures if it is found to be at fault. Washington has grown increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of progress in the talks, particularly after the two sides missed a December 31 deadline for a deal to which they had pledged themselves in an October meeting with Powell.

Ismail denounced the Sudan Peace Act as "the worst" of its kind. Ismail sought to dispel any suggestion his government intended to suspend the negotiations in Naivasha, Kenya. "Otherwise it would not have kept the First Vice President (Ali Osman Taha) for more than a month in Naivasha" nor would it have agreed to discuss difficult issues like self-determination for the south or the status of three regions it did not consider part of the south, he added.

Taha, who has been locked in tough negotiations with SPLA leader John Garang, left Saturday amid a deadlock on whether or not to impose Islamic laws in the capital, Khartoum. Al Anbaa reported that the two sides had by Monday night still not broken the stalemate as sources close to the government said Taha would return to Naivasha on Tuesday.