The United States will keep its effort to end violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, President George W. Bush said on Thursday.
"We will continue to deliver humanitarian aid. We will continue to enforce sanctions, tough sanctions, against the Sudanese government officials, rebel leaders, and others responsible for violence," Bush said at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art ahead of his African tour on Friday.
"We expect other nations to join us in this effort to save lives from the genocide that is taking place. We will use all our diplomatic resources to urge full deployment of an effective United Nations force."
Bush, who voiced his "deep concern" over violence in Sudan's Darfur region, signed a law at the end of 2007 aimed at piling economic pressure on Khartoum government.
The Sudanese government said some 9,000 civilians had been killed and about 1 million people had been displaced since the conflict erupted in the region in February 2003.
The Sudanese government, the United Nations and the African Union reached an agreement in June 2007 on a hybrid peacekeeping operation of the two organizations in Darfur.
The United State welcomed the agreement, and has been urging the Sudanese government to take steps to facilitate and accelerate the implementation of the agreement.
Bush will visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia from Feb. 15-21 for talks with leaders of these countries on economic development and fighting against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, according to a statement by the White House.
Source: Xinhua
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