http://sg.news.yahoo.com/061213/1/45g0a.html
US mulling Darfur no-fly zone at urging of Blair
The United States and Britain are considering the imposition of a no-fly zone over Sudan's war-torn Darfur region if the Khartoum government does not allow a UN-led peacekeeping force into the area, the State Department said.
Blair raised the no-fly zone option during a meeting here last week with US President George W. Bush and amid growing frustration with Sudan's refusal to comply with past agreements on the peacekeepers' deployment, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"Prime Minister Blair talked about it as an idea," McCormack said of the no-fly zone, which would aim to halt the use of Sudanese government planes and helicopters to support attacks on civilians in Darfur.
He said Bush was very concerned about a resurgence of violence in the vast western Sudanese region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced during nearly four years of fighting between ethnic African rebels and militia allied to the Arab-led government in Khartoum.
"The president is going to consider what options he thinks are necessary in order to address the grave situation there," McCormack said, adding that the move to consider tougher measures was motivated by a "lack of forward movement on the diplomacy right now combined with an uptick in violence" in Darfur.
The Financial Times reported earlier Wednesday that Blair had urged the United States to take coercive steps against Khartoum and that options under consideration by the Bush administration included air strikes and a naval blockade. . . .
US mulling Darfur no-fly zone at urging of Blair
The United States and Britain are considering the imposition of a no-fly zone over Sudan's war-torn Darfur region if the Khartoum government does not allow a UN-led peacekeeping force into the area, the State Department said.
Blair raised the no-fly zone option during a meeting here last week with US President George W. Bush and amid growing frustration with Sudan's refusal to comply with past agreements on the peacekeepers' deployment, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"Prime Minister Blair talked about it as an idea," McCormack said of the no-fly zone, which would aim to halt the use of Sudanese government planes and helicopters to support attacks on civilians in Darfur.
He said Bush was very concerned about a resurgence of violence in the vast western Sudanese region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced during nearly four years of fighting between ethnic African rebels and militia allied to the Arab-led government in Khartoum.
"The president is going to consider what options he thinks are necessary in order to address the grave situation there," McCormack said, adding that the move to consider tougher measures was motivated by a "lack of forward movement on the diplomacy right now combined with an uptick in violence" in Darfur.
The Financial Times reported earlier Wednesday that Blair had urged the United States to take coercive steps against Khartoum and that options under consideration by the Bush administration included air strikes and a naval blockade. . . .
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