President Bush ordered new U.S. economic sanctions Tuesday to pressure Sudan's government to stop the bloodshed in Darfur that Washington has condemned as genocide. "I promise this to the people of Darfur: the United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world," the president said.
The sanctions target government-run companies involved in Sudan's oil industry, and three individuals, including a rebel leader suspected of being involved in the violence in Darfur. "For too long the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians," the president said, according to the AP. "My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. "The world has a responsibility to put an end to it," Bush said.
Beyond the new U.S. sanctions, Bush directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to draft a proposed U.N. resolution to intensify international pressure on the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir.
"I call on President Bashir to stop his obstruction, and to allow the peacekeepers in, and to end the campaign of violence that continues to target innocent men, women and children," Bush stated.
