KHARTOUM, Sudan, May 31 (UPI) -- Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir doesn't believe the new U.S. sanctions slapped on his country stem from the Bush administration's concern with human rights.
Bashir was reported Thursday as telling a visiting African-American business delegation in Khartoum that the continued pressure on Sudan is aimed at covering the Bush administration's "own crimes" in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
"The American sanctions are aimed at striking a blow to the Sudanese economy and they are very far from claims about (concern for) human rights and violations in Darfur," Bashir told the U.S. delegation in a Wednesday evening meeting.
The president warned the new sanctions on Sudanese companies and sectors could further ignite security problems and increase human suffering in his country, adding the rebellion in Darfur against his government came as a result of an absence in providing basic development services to the people of the region.
"The natural consequence from fighting Sudan's economy through such sanctions will be the inability of the government to provide services and to carry out its duties in development, which will renew the rebellion," Bashir said.
