Arab States Try to Stop Bid for Sudan Sanctions

Egypt and the Arab League tried to put the brakes on a campaign for sanctions against Sudan on Wednesday as the Sudanese government blamed rebels in the Darfur region for the humanitarian crisis there.

But U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said that time was running out for the victims of the conflict and the international community should keep up the pressure on Khartoum.

“It is not enough of an excuse to say, ‘Well, we don’t want to put sanctions on this regime. We’d rather just see several hundred thousand people go through this terrible period where so many of them will die,’ ” he told Egyptian television.

Sudan is under threat of United Nations sanctions if it does not crack down on the Arab militias, known as janjaweed, that are blamed for driving non-Arab villagers off the land in an arid region the size of France. Washington wants the Security Council to vote this week to set a deadline for sanctions.

Khartoum says it needs time to deploy more forces in Darfur. Relief organizations say the Islamist government has at least improved access to Darfur for humanitarian aid workers.

A minister accused rebels of killing nearly 1,500 civilians and disrupting the flow of aid since a cease-fire deal four months ago, prompting a major rebel group to deny mounting any offensives.

The international furor over Darfur, where about 30,000 people have been killed in the last 18 months, has produced a backlash in the Arab world, where many suspect that the United States, Britain and their allies in Iraq have ulterior motives.

Egypt asked the United States to give Sudan more time to stop the militias, which are allied with the government against two rebel movements. They are accused of burning villages and killing and raping in Darfur.

But Powell, who was visiting Cairo, replied that inaction could cost lives. “We should give the Sudanese government time to respond, but [Darfuris] don’t have that much time before disease and famine take tens of thousands of lives,” he said.