Bush to Announce Sanctions on Sudan

May 29, 01:04 AM

Current Headlines: President George W. Bush plans to announce economic sanctions against Sudan and will urge the United Nations to take further steps to end violence in Darfur.

Citing two senior administration officials, The New York Times reported that Bush will announce the new sanctions Tuesday, including penalties against two senior Sudanese government officials and a rebel leader.

Bush warned earlier this year that the United States would act if Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir did not permit a full deployment of U.N. peacekeeping forces, allow aid to reach Darfur and withdraw government support for the Janjaweed militias, which have been killing large numbers of civilians in Darfur.

Bashir needs to stop the violence and provide for his people, an official told the Times on condition of anonymity. He's been given an opportunity to do that and in the absence of doing that, we have to ratchet up sanctions.

The U.S. officials told the Times Bush wanted to take action before he travels to Europe next week for a meeting of the G8 industrialized nations, where Darfur is likely to be an issue.