US State Department comments on Peace Act

The US State Department has reiterated its opposition to the capital market provisions of a version of the Sudan Peace Act passed by the US Congress, which would prohibit an entity engaged in the development of oil resources in Sudan from raising capital or trading securities in the United States. “Prohibiting access to capital markets... would run counter to global US support for open markets, would undermine financial market competitiveness, and could end up impeding the free flow of capital worldwide,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told journalists on Wednesday. A different version of the Sudan Peace Act passed by the US Senate does not contain the capital markets provision. Apart from the proposed capital market sanctions, the State Department supported the Sudan Peace Act as an important piece of legislation, addressing what Secretary of State Colin Powell had called “perhaps one of the greatest tragedies in the world today”, Boucher stated. What was happening in Sudan - “the bombings of innocent civilians, the tolerance for slave raiding, the denial of religious freedom, uprooting thousands of civilians by the continued military actions of both sides” - has shocked all persons of conscience, and the Department of State shared the outrage that was expressed in the act, he added. Asked if Powell would recommend a veto of the legislation if the final version contained the limitation on access to capital markets, Boucher said the State Department was waiting to see how things turned out. “We will see what happens in the end before the Secretary has to make a recommendation,” he said.