US ‘using Darfur crisis to oust government’

WASHINGTON is using the Darfur conflict to topple the Sudanese government, Khartoum’s envoy to the African Union (AU) said yesterday.

Ousman Alsaid also said Western military intervention in its remote western region would risk splitting Africa’s largest country and unsettling its neighbours.

“The US government is using the crisis in Darfur to bring down the government of Sudan,” he said after a meeting on Darfur of the 53-state AU’s peace and security council.

Sudan has compared outside criticism over Darfur with US-led pressure on Iraq before the war which ousted Saddam Hussein.

“The policy of the government of Sudan is not liked by the US administration so the Americans are targeting the government because of its political stance,” he said, indicating Sudan’s anti-US policies on prominent Arab issues such as Iraq and Israel.

Washington is expected to call a UN vote this week on a US-drafted resolution threatening Sudan with sanctions over Darfur, where the UN says one million have been displaced and 30,000 killed.

The EU also called on the UN to consider sanctions if Sudan does not neutralise Arab militia which have attacked African communities. US Congress called the campaign a genocide.

Attacking what he called a British contingency plan to send troops to Darfur, Mr Alsaid said Western intervention could lead to the fragmentation of Sudan. “This could destabilise the nine countries neighbouring Sudan,” he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has not ruled out a British military role.

Mr Alsaid said the AU should be allowed to mediate a solution with an East African peace forum called the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

“If the newly born AU fails then it could be considered a failure of Africa as a whole, because Sudan is a microcosm of Africa,” he said.