[arsenal]

Why 1997 Sanctions by US didn't happen

In late 1997, the US Congress passed into law a bill that placed economic sanctions on the country of Sudan. The United States decided to punish the Sudanese government, which the State Department declared is a "sponsor of terrorism and a relentless oppressor of its minority Christian population." The original bill was meant to terminate all commercial activities between the two countries, however, this did not come to fruition. Though the Sudanese government has no active lobby in this country, while the bill made its way through committee, several lobbying groups made a sudden appearance and opposed outright passage of the bill. They did not oppose the sanctions as a whole, they took issue on the possible sanction of only one product, gum arabic.....In August 1998, the attention of Congress was again drawn to the economic sanctions placed on Sudan, due to an alleged relation of suspected terrorist financier, Osama bin Laden, to many Sudanese companies - including the Gum Arabic Company, one of the leading exporters of gum in Sudan. However, most US companies claim that if there is indeed a relationship between Sudanese gum arabic exporters and Mr. bin Laden, they will cease all trade relations with those companies.

From greenleft.org.au

Annan's report flowed from the US-sponsored Security Council resolution 1556 passed on July 30, which threatened unspecified diplomatic and economic “measures” against Sudan's Islamist military rulers if they did not begin to stem, within 30 days, the vicious ethnic-cleansing campaign in Darfur being carried out against black villagers by state-sponsored Arabic-speaking janjaweed bandits......Since coming to office in 2001, US President George Bush's administration has strived, using a carrot-and-stick strategy, to secure a peace agreement between the mainly non-Muslim Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebels, based in the oil-rich south, and the Islamist regime in Khartoum. Washington hoped that the resulting “stability” in Sudan would allow it to lift existing US sanctions.

Yes, it should be. But the US cannot go invade another country at the current moment. The UN will have to do this one. And they are still talking about it. So, unless another country wants to stand up and unilaterally go into the Sudan, the people are screwed. We all know the reaction to Bush going into Iraq unilaterally, so the prospects of another country stepping up, is likely very slim.