Bush raises pressure on Darfur killings, Clooney joins protesters

WASHINGTON  - US President George W Bush announced new sanctions against people suspected of aiding genocide in Sudan's Darfur region as critical peace talks in Nigeria near a deadline.

The spotlight has swung onto the killings in Darfur, Sudan with 160 religious and human rights groups preparing for a massive Washington rally on Sunday.

Among them is Oscar-winning actor George Clooney who has used his celebrity status to focus attention on the area where he said the first genocide of this century was taking place.

Clooney yesterday told heart-breaking stories of visiting the border area between Chad and Darfur last week, where he watched refugees spilling into sordid camps and women foraging for food who faced the threat of rape or death.

Clooney urged the public to attend rallies across the United States this Sunday to pressure Khartoum to stop what Washington says amounts to genocide in Darfur.

US actors, political, religious leaders and sporting personalities will be among those at the rallies, which are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people.

"What we cannot do is turn our heads and look away and hope that this will somehow disappear,'' Clooney said to an unusually packed news conference at the National Press Club.

President Bush yesterday issued an executive order freezing the assets of anyone deemed to have posed a threat to the peace process or stability in Darfur in an effort to exert more US pressure in the region. The order also prohibited US companies or individuals from dealing with those targeted.

Arab militia, backed by the Sudanese government, have terrorized non-Arab tribes in the region over the past three years, murdering and raping tens of thousands, burning villages and driving more than 2 million people into squalid camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad.

Two rebel groups from Darfur, which is about the size of Texas, took up arms in early 2003 over what they saw as neglect by Sudan's Arab-dominated central government.

Khartoum is accused of arming militias drawn mainly from Arab tribes to crush the rebellion.

Bush said he was taking the action because the violence in Darfur threatened the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on four Sudanese accused of abuses in the conflict. Khartoum denies responsibility for the violence in the area the sise of France in the west of Sudan.

Peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, mediated by the African Union are facing a Sunday deadline to reach a deal. Mediators presented an 85-page draft peace settlement on Tuesday and a Sudanese government negotiator said it represented a possible basis for a deal, although tough negotiations still lay ahead.

But the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) warned yesterday that many people continued to die daily as violence and lack of money hampered humanitarian help, and malnutrition was rising again while aid workers have been unable to reach the region.

Another 200,000 people had fled their homes in the past three months alone to escape fighting between rebels, the army and government-backed militias, Unicef said.

As more Americans become aware of the unfolding tragedy, a coalition of 160 religious, human rights and political groups planned a major rally in Washington DC on Sunday to demand that Bush press for a stronger multinational force to end the violence and protect the people of Darfur.

Speakers included Nobel Peace Prise winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Washington's Roman Catholic Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Illinois Democratic senator Barak Obama and actor George Clooney, who visited Darfur last week.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said the first priority was to provide humanitarian relief to those who were suffering in Darfur and improve security by sending in a more robust UN peacekeeping mission with a strong mandate.

"There is resistance to overcome, but it must be done. There is no time to waste,'' said Zoellick at a remembrance ceremony on Capitol Hill.

The four men targeted by the UN Security Council are a Sudan air force commander, a pro-government militia leader, and two rebel commanders. But no top Sudanese leader was included.

- REUTERS