Bashir accuses Washington of arming Darfur rebels; Garang does not oppose sanctions on Khartoum

Copy of Arabic News report 10/1/2004:

The Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has accused the US of training the rebels in Darfur and arming them in order to stand in the face of the government of Khartoum. The leader of the rebels movement in the south, John Garang, said he does not oppose the imposition of sanctions on Khartoum to force her to settle the crisis in Darfur.

Replying to a question on the involvement of foreign forces in Darfur, al-Bashir said in an interview with the Egyptian daily al-Ahram that the USA is behind that. He said "they took the rebels to Eritrea and installed training camps for them and spent money for their armament and al-Thurayya mobile phones. Training and material spending and plans were carried out by foreign forces, especially the USA."

Meanwhile, Garang said in a press conference he held in Cairo that the "sanctions on Sudan might help in rescuing the lives of vulnerable people" in Darfur, in remarks to the UN Security Council resolution of September 18 implying a threat to impose oil sanctions on Khartoum if it does not solve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/041001/2004100110.html