Sudan: US Aim To Destabilize The Country

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir yesterday accused the US of efforts to seize the country's gold and oil using the Darfur conflict.

The U.N. Security Council replied that the aim of his country was only to halt mass murder and starvation. He said in a July 30 resolution that Khartoum could face unspecified sanctions if it failed to do so, and there has been talk of foreign military intervention.

Sudan is under intense international pressure to rein in Arab militias accused of sacking African villages and killing and raping civilians, and to provide security for more than 1 million people driven from their homes by the turmoil.

"There is an agenda to seek petrol and gold in the region," al-Bashir told a women's union meeting on Darfur in Khartoum.