Blackwater's Sudan operations ignored U.S. sanctions

Quote: That fall, Blackwater formally retained Phillips, who traveled to the southern Sudanese capital of Juba, where he promoted Blackwater to Kiir, who was Garang's successor. Christopher Taylor, a Blackwater vice president who led the company's Sudan initiative, accompanied Phillips on two subsequent trips. Phillips didn't respond to repeated requests for comment and ordered a reporter who visited his Charlottesville, Va., home to get off his property. Reached by phone, Taylor declined comment for this report. Neither man has been charged with any wrongdoing. Documents show there was extensive activity by the company well before the U.S. sanctions against southern Sudan were lifted in late 2006. In November 2005, Kiir traveled to Washington on his first official visit and met Cheney. While there, Kiir and his aides met Blackwater executives, including Prince, Taylor and Black, the veteran CIA officer. At the Marriott hotel, Black delivered a presentation on Blackwater's capabilities and urged Kiir to lobby Bush to lift the sanctions on southern Sudan. Several days later, accompanied by Phillips, two of Kiir's close advisers toured Blackwater's Moyock facility. A senior southern Sudanese official confirmed the trip to Blackwater's headquarters, and said Kiir's government was interested in elite bodyguard training and secure satellite phones that couldn't be intercepted by the Khartoum government. Taylor and Phillips visited Sudan in February 2006. Taylor gave Kiir and his aides the satellite phones, access to the secure e-mail accounts and a formal proposal for Blackwater protective services. Over subsequent months, and while the U.S. sanctions were still in effect, Blackwater pressed its sales drive, which included a meeting between Prince and Kiir in Nairobi,Kenya, and a third visit to Sudan by Taylor. Bush lifted the U.S. sanctions on southern Sudan by executive order on Oct. 13, 2006, but by that time, federal investigators had concluded that Blackwater had already crossed the permissible line in brokering defense services. Eleven days later, Blackwater and southern Sudan concluded preliminary negotiations on a contract to trainKiir's bodyguards. It's not clear whether the contract was ever implemented. Special correspondent Alan Boswell in Juba, Sudan, and Maggie Bridgeman in Washington contributed to this article