Sudan's ambassador to the United States John Ukec Lueth said on Wednesday that U.S. sanctions against Sudan over the Darfur conflict will worsen the situation in the Darfur region.

"It is a wrong recipe because the economic sanctions are going to actually make things worse for the people of Sudan in general, and the people of Darfur in particular," Lueth told a press conference.

Lueth said that the U.S. sanctions are not only targeting the Sudanese government, but also the people in the country.

"The substance of the sanctions is targeting the poor people: companies, agricultural companies, petrochemical companies that provide drugs for those who are sick, sugar for those who need it and for those who are hungry.

"These sanctions actually destroy the comprehensive peace agreement. It destroys the Darfur peace agreement. It destroys the eastern Sudan peace agreement. And it shatters Sudan.

"This is completely unacceptable," the ambassador said.

Lueth also accused Washington of creating warlords by imposing sanctions on Sudan. "By the time Darfur peace agreement was signed, there were only three major rebel groups in Darfur. Now there are 19," he said.

"Those rebels, when they attack our garrisons, they ambush innocent people, they hijack vehicles of humanitarian workers. They are making the situation into havoc to frighten everybody and keep people in a state of horror. It's not the government of Sudan which is doing that," he noted.

U.S. President George W. Bush imposed Tuesday economic sanctions against Sudan's government over the ongoing Darfur conflict.

"The Department of Treasury is tightening U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan," Bush said in a statement alleging Khartoum failed to halt the bloody conflicts in the Darfur region.

The sanctions target state-run oil companies, and three individuals, including a rebel leader suspected of being involved in the violence in Darfur.

Bush also directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to consult with Britain and other allies to draft a U.N. resolution to strengthen international pressure on Sudan.

Khartoum was under mounting pressures to approve the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur, although it has accepted the first two phases of a UN peacekeeping plan for Darfur but stalled the third phase of the plan to create a much larger UN-AU hybrid force.

Many civilians in Darfur, western Sudan have been displaced and a number of civilians have been killed since tribal clashes and anti-government rebellion erupted in February 2003 in the country.

Source: Xinhua