Easing sanctions in US "self interest" - Khartoum

Sudan has said the US decision to relax sanctions against Khartoum does not go far enough, and Washington should review its whole attitude towards the regime. In a statement received by IRIN, the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi described US policy towards Khartoum as "worse than just denying it the medicines it [US] produces". The US on Wednesday announced it would ease its sanctions policy to allow food and medicine sales to Iran, Libya and Sudan. But the Sudanese statement said Washington needed a "radical review of the entire system of US attitude, aims and vision of the world for it to be what it says it is". The "implied confession" that certain US policies had failed, should encourage its officials to conduct such a review "with reformed hearts". The statement warned that the announcement was simply in pursuit of US "self interest". The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), for its part, said the decision was "premature", arguing that it would only benefit Khartoum by helping it gain access to the international market. "The government should be squeezed commercially and economically for it to accede to a lasting solution for the country. By this [decision], Khartoum will get some ego but this will however not change the situation on the ground militarily," SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje told IRIN. A recent UN-OCHA analysis on the impact of sanctions noted the difficulty in elaborating and enforcing sanctions regimes. It observed that some damage resulting from sanctions regimes, such as increased humanitarian needs, may even run counter to the objectives of the sanctions. "If unchecked, the humanitarian impact of sanctions may in fact relieve the targeted governments from some of the political pressure of sanctions," the report warned.