UK calls for "full use of sanctions and the arms embargo"

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has called for "full use of sanctions and the arms embargo" to put pressure on the Sudanese government.



Mr Straw said that both the government in Khartoum and rebel groups in Darfur were responsible for daily breaches of the ceasefire agreed in 2004, PA/Guardian reported today - excerpt:

"We should make full use of sanctions and the arms embargo. We should be clear that those who have committed war crimes will face justice in the International Criminal Court. And at the same time we should hold out a positive future for Sudan if a settlement can be reached: international respectability; an end to isolation; debt relief; World Trade Organisation membership; a reconstruction package.

"Meanwhile we have to back up those working on the ground. That means supporting the African Union in its mission and helping it to manage the hand-over to a United Nations force. Indeed, as a matter of urgency, we need to get a UN planning mission into Sudan."