Oil may make US shift on Sudan
Reuters, June 20
CAIRO, Egypt - An ex-premier of war-torn Sudan said Wednesday he believed the lure of his country's lucrative oil sector would push the United States to revise its policies on bilateral ties.
Sadeq al-Mahdi, leader of the opposition Umma party, was speaking to reporters in Cairo on his way home from the United States, where he held talks with U.S. officials and intellectuals on efforts to end Sudan's 18-year-old civil war.
``It became confirmed to me that the new U.S. administration on a formal level wants to revise the policies of the old administration (toward Sudan),'' Mahdi said.
Mahdi said that foreign countries were vying for a stake in Sudan's oil reserves, and the United States would certainly be interested in joining the competition.
``There are those in the United States who see that oil supports the fact that the United States should take on a mediating role to solve the problem. (President Bush) is considered to be included in that camp,'' he said.
Bilateral relations have been tense for years, with the United States labeling Sudan a state sponsor of terrorism. In 1998, Washington withdrew its diplomats from Sudan for security reasons, but stopped short of breaking off relations.
The atmosphere has changed since Bush came to office.
In May, Secretary of State Colin Powell visited two of Sudan's southern neighbors and promised that Washington would play a more active role in efforts to end the civil war.
The United States also said earlier this year it was committed to removing countries from the blacklist of nations it considers sponsors of ``terrorism,'' and was engaged in talks with Sudan with that in mind.
Some critics argue that Sudan's oil fields, located near rebel-controlled regions in the south but so far rarely affected by fighting, have complicated the conflict by providing the government with revenues to finance its war.
Mahdi, 64, was overthrown by current president Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a military coup in 1989. After several years in exile, he returned to Sudan last year. |
