By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department's no. 2 official accused Sudan's government on Monday of a campaign of intimidation against aid workers and said time was running out to accept a hybrid force in Darfur or face new sanctions.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who returned from Sudan last week, said President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had "weeks" to agree to a U.N./African Union hybrid force in Darfur or have new U.S. sanctions slapped on them that were announced by President George W. Bush last week.
"Time is running out," Negroponte told reporters.
Negroponte said his meeting with Bashir was not encouraging and he was pessimistic the Sudanese leader would follow through and implement promises to allow U.N. peacekeepers to supplement struggling AU troops already in Darfur.
"I came away from that meeting with a healthy, strong sense of skepticism as to whether they might fulfill their commitments," he said.
In addition to rapidly accepting the hybrid force, Sudan's government must also disarm Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, held responsible for much of the violence in Darfur, said Negroponte.
"The Arab militias that we all know could not exist without the Sudanese government's active support," he said. Continued >>>
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