Sudan has made ‘positive’ steps on meeting sanctions terms: US envoy

Previously, government forces would launch a “large offensive” against pro-rebel communities if the rebels looted a village or stole cattle, he said.

“We have not seen that this time, in the last one year,” said Koutsis, whose assessment of Darfur is expected to guide Washington’s decision on sanctions.

“We have seen that when the army does attack, they act with restraint… they stop when they achieve their objective, they do not continue.

“We have seen that the government has shown extreme restraint even in circumstances where they could have responded under the genus of self-defence.”

– Concerns over UN drawdown –

However, an expected drawdown of the 17,000-strong United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur threatens to unravel the fragile gains achieved so far, Koutsis said.

“The biggest concern I have is the pace that UNAMID will draw down requires that the government of Sudan step up and fill those gaps in issues of security and development assistance,” he said.

“As we have seen it is not clear that the government is fully able at this point to do that.”

Some think tanks have urged Washington to maintain the sanctions, accusing Khartoum of curbing freedom of speech, violating human rights and repressing Christians and other minority groups.

Koutsis said Washington was not blind to these issues and had “big differences” with Khartoum over them, although the two currently enjoyed a level of confidence that hadn’t existed for 25 years.

But the purpose of the sanctions was to end Sudanese support for extremist groups and bring peace to Darfur, he said.

“None of these other issues were the point of sanctions, and none of these other issues, therefore, should be linked to the lifting of sanctions.”

Koutsis said that overall the sanctions had worked.

“Yes, I can say with absolute certainty that Darfur today is more peaceful than it was a year ago,” he said.

“That is not to say that the causes of Darfur have been fully addressed, not by a long shot.”