From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jan 13 2009 - 16:21:36 EST
UPDATE 1-Clinton says she will "sound the alarm" on Darfur
Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:57pm GMT
(Adds comment from Save Darfur Coalition)
WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday she
would focus on the Darfur crisis as top U.S. diplomat and the Obama
administration was looking at options including the creation of no-fly
zones.
"There is a great need for us to sound the alarm again about Darfur. It is a
terrible humanitarian crisis compounded by a corrupt and very cruel regime
in Khartoum," Clinton said at a Senate hearing to confirm her nomination as
secretary of state.
She said the incoming Obama administration was reviewing U.S. policy toward
Darfur and the UN/African Union force must be fully deployed.
"We have spoken about other options, no-fly zones, other sanctions and
sanctuaries, looking to deploy the UN/AU force to try to protect the
refugees but also to repel the militias," she said.
"There is a lot under consideration," she added.
Foreign policy experts say 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven
from their homes in five years of fighting between rebels and the army and
government-backed militias. Khartoum accuses the Western media of
exaggerating the death toll.
The deployment of a joint UN/AU peacekeeping force is behind schedule and
Darfur activists have been pushing the new administration to do more to get
those troops on the ground and look at fresh ideas to stop the violence.
Clinton has said on several occasions she wanted to see a NATO "no-fly" zone
over Darfur to support peacekeepers against militias.
Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, an advocacy group,
said there was no time to spare in acting to end the violence in western
Sudan and facilitate a lasting peace there.
"Secretary-designate Clinton and the new administration must be prepared to
lead on ending the genocide starting next Tuesday and not a day later," said
Fowler. (Reporting by Sue Pleming; Editing by Xavier Briand)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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