Bush Calls On Sudan to Halt Militia Violence

President Bush on Friday intensified the international pressure on Sudan to stop ethnic violence by pro-government militias in the western region of Darfur. “We made our position very clear to the Sudanese government: They must stop janjaweed violence,” Bush said, referring to the Arab militias accused of the attacks, in a speech in Detroit to the National Urban League. “They must provide access to humanitarian relief for those who suffer.”

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said in an interview in the French newspaper Le Monde on Friday that his government did not pretend that the situation in Darfur was normal, but that it would take time to restore order.

Sudanese authorities have pledged to disarm the janjaweed, who have been terrorizing, raping and killing black African villagers in Darfur, but U.S. officials and human rights groups accuse the government of arming and supporting the militias, a claim Sudan denies.

Bush’s comments came a day after Congress passed a unanimous but nonbinding resolution calling the violence in Darfur genocide.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell urged the Sudanese government Thursday to stop supporting and sustaining the janjaweed, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that the international community might step in if Sudanese authorities did not act swiftly to disarm the militias.

About 1.2 million people have fled their villages in Darfur because of the violence, and 30,000 have died since fighting broke out last year. Amnesty International has reported that women and girls as young as 8 have been systematically raped by the militias. Survivors tell horrifying stories of militias sweeping into villages on camels and horses, killing men, raping women, looting stock and burning villages to the ground.

The United States presented a draft U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday threatening sanctions against the Sudanese government if it failed to prosecute the janjaweed leaders responsible for the atrocities. But several nations on the council have indicated that they oppose the threat of sanctions.

At a news conference in Paris on Thursday, Ismail, the Sudanese foreign minister, warned against international “meddling” and said sanctions would only complicate the issue.

In the interview with Le Monde, he said: “We don’t pretend the situation has come back to normal. There exists a real problem that has to be resolved on a humanitarian, political and security level, and we intend to do that. But one has to understand that we are applying a plan that is working in stages.”

Sudanese authorities said that 100 janjaweed fighters had been arrested and that 17 had been convicted in attacks. They face punishments that include amputation, execution and prison, the authorities said.

The conflict broke out last year when rebels in Darfur took up arms in a bid for a greater share of the nation’s oil wealth. Opposing the rebels, the janjaweed began attacking villagers.