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Rice presses Sudan to accept U.N.

From CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she pressed Sudan's government to accept a U.N. force in the war-torn region of Darfur, warning improved U.S. relations depended on it.

Rice met Monday with Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol before leaving for a two-day trip to Canada.

Speaking to reporters aboard her plane, Rice suggested Khartoum remained opposed to such a force.

"I won't say that we made progress but I will say that I delivered the strongest possible message in the strongest possible terms to the Sudanese government that any hope for bettering relations between the United States and the Sudan rests on Sudan's cooperation," she said.

Rice said that Akol, in their meeting, "brought hopes for better relations between the United States and Sudan, and I told him in no uncertain terms that that wasn't on the agenda unless the Sudan acted responsibly."

A U.S. State Department official said that Rice also voiced strong concern during her meeting with Akol over the deployment of thousands of Sudanese troops in Darfur and reports of attacks on civilians.

The Akol meeting followed a trip last month to Sudan by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer.

Frustrated by the Sudanese government's continued refusal to admit U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur, U.S. President George W. Bush dispatched Frazer to Khartoum. While there, she met Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and presented him with a personal appeal from Bush to accept the U.N. force.

Violence has increased in Darfur despite the May 5 signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the largest of three rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.

An African Union force of 7,000 has been unable to quell the violence in Darfur and has struggled to find funding for the mission.

But Khartoum has resisted the mounting international pressure to permit the transition from the African Union force to a more robust, better-equipped force under U.N. command, saying it would not go along with that move until all of the major rebel groups had signed the peace agreement.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution for such a force to replace the African Union troops, but said the force would not be deployed until Sudan could be persuaded to accept it.

The Sudanese government has threatened to kick the African Union forces out when their mandate expires and has begun a deployment of its own troops to stem the violence -- a move the United States has called an offensive against the rebel groups that have not signed the peace agreement.

U.N. warns of major catastrophe

The United Nations has warned of a major humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur. In an open session of the U.N. Security Council on Monday with the African Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly condemned the escalation by the Sudanese government.

"This latest fighting shows utter disregard for the Darfur peace agreement," he said. "I strongly condemn this escalation. The government should stop its offensive immediately and refrain from any further such action."

Warning the tragedy in Darfur has reached a "critical moment," Annan urged the world body to do more to persuade the Sudanese government to accept a U.N. force.

"We need governments and individual leaders in Africa and beyond, that are in a position to influence the government of Sudan, to bring that pressure to bear without delay," he said. "There must also be a clear, strong and uniform message from this council."

Violence erupted three years ago in ethnically mixed Darfur, when ethnic African rebels took up arms over what they saw as neglect by the Arab-dominated central government.

The Sudanese government is accused of responding by unleashing Arab militias called Janjaweed, which have systematically raped women and pillaged villages in a campaign the United States has branded "genocide."

On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar introduced the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006.

In addition to calling for the administration to appoint a special envoy for Sudan, the legislation commits U.S. assets to assist the African Union forces, bans non-humanitarian assistance to the Sudanese government and calls for sanctions against individuals determined by Bush to be "complicit in, or responsible for, acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in Darfur."

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