The Sudanese foreign minister has rejected a US declaration of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and says the United States is using a humanitarian crisis for political purposes.
Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail said the declaration by US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday was "an isolated position" made in the heat of a presidential election to win African-American votes.
"They should not use a humanitarian problem for political agenda," he said during a visit to South Korea today. "We know that an election is going on. We know the political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, are competing for the votes of African Americans."
The United States declared yesterday the violence in Darfur region amounted to genocide and urged the world to back an expanded African peacekeeping force to halt the bloodshed. "We have concluded that genocide has taken place in Darfur," Mr Bush said. "Only outside action can stop the killing."
But the Sudanese foreign minister said the view was not shared by others. "The African Union at their summit said there is no genocide. The European Union said there is no genocide," he said.
Rebels began an uprising in Darfur in February 2003 after years of skirmishes between mainly African farmers and Arab nomads over land and water. The government turned to the Janjaweed militias to help suppress the rebels.
The United Nations has estimated some 1.2 million people have fled their homes and up to 50,000 people have died from direct violence, starvation or illness in what it describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Mr Ismail said it would be difficult for a US-backed UN resolution for sanctions against Sudan to pass "because it is irrational and because it is politicised, because it is not balanced.
"Genocide is going on now by the American forces in Iraq. It's going on now by the American forces in Afghanistan," Mr Ismail said after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.