Articles and Analysies
US to Sanction Dr. Khalil Ibrahim! A Statement/Gammali Hasan Galal Eldin
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Jun 5, 2007 - 8:51:52 PM

The Sudan Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)

www.sudanjem.com

[email protected]

US to Sanction Dr. Khalil Ibrahim! A Statement

On May 29^th, the US Administration declared new sanctions aimed at the government of Khartoum .   In a bewildering and wholly unjustified way, three individuals were named in the sanctions including Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, the Chairman of JEM.   According to the sanctions, Dr. Ibrahim is subject to prevention of entry into the USA , freezing of assets held in USA and outlawing of business dealings with the US companies.   To that effect, JEM would like the state the following:

1.       Placing Dr. Ibrahim�s name in list �in the interest of balance� as the Washington declared is simply bizarre and plainly devoid of logic justice. If the US wants to embellish its image in the region and reflect neutrality and fairness, it should not do so by incriminating innocent individuals.

2.       If Dr. Ibrahim name is placed in the list for his role in �disruption of peace in Darfur � as the indicated, we are entitled to ask which peace the US is referring to.   It is true JEM rejected the so-called Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA).   The DPA remains to this day an American project and has no ownership in Darfur .   Dr. Khalil was not the only one who opposed it.   The DPA was rejected across Darfur and repudiated by Darfur IDPs, Refugees, civic organisations and several factions of the SLM.   Dr, Khalil simply did the honourable thing and that is: he rejected what the UN Envoy expressed as �does not resonate with his own people�.

3.       To be clear, the US sanction does not implicate Dr. Khalil in any war crimes, a matter that falls under the mandate of the ICC and not the United States .   Moreover, the ICC has no relationship with the declared American sanctions.

4.       The Chairman of JEM has no bank account to be frozen; neither in the USA nor anywhere else in the world.   Moreover, no American company has any interest in Dr. Ibrahim as he has nothing to trade with.   Dr. Ibrahim has never visited the USA and has no intention to do so.   In fact, he has long been placed under US-travel embargo.   Nevertheless, placing him under travel restriction will not restrict the functioning of JEM whose offices are scattered across the globe. And thanks to modern media, members of JEM exchange views on Darfur with the American people any time they like and irrespective of the wishes of the White House.

5.       We appeal to the UN and the UN Security Council to remain vigilant regarding US incrimination of innocent citizens; a practice that the US Administration seems to relish with undiminishing appetite.    The UN must guard its good reputation and resist following the unjust US sanctions.   Only through that can the UN continue playing a constructive role in bringing peace to Darfur .

Gammali Hasan Galal Eldin

Presidential Bureau

Cairo , 30-5-2007