British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday ratcheted up the pressure on Sudan to halt the bloodshed in Darfur by calling for tough new United Nations sanctions.
In a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, Blair said that “enough is enough”.
Blair has been calling for a harder line against Sudan in recent weeks.
The letter will not be made public but his official spokesperson told reporters: “The president of Sudan [Omar al-Bashir] is clearly not complying with the agreement he reached earlier this year.
“Therefore, the prime minister believes it’s time for a new, tough UN resolution, which would mean targeted sanctions aimed at the top 100 members of the Sudanese government and also those who are supporting them.
“What he hopes is that the UN as a whole will support tougher action.”
Blair is set to discuss the proposals at this weekend’s EU summit in Berlin.
Last week, he called for a “far tougher line” against Sudan.
The United States has already said it will seek a UN resolution aimed at forcing Khartoum to let a UN-led peacekeeping force into Darfur, where about 200 000 people have died in the last four years.
Bashir, who earlier this month backtracked on an agreement to let 20 000 UN-led peacekeepers into the region, accuses the West of wanting to invade his country and plunder its resources. — AFP