عاجل/لجنة من مجلس النواب تستجوب سكوت غريشن و يعترف بانه تفاوض مع مرتكبي جرائم الإبادة الجماعية

Envoy: U.S. negotiates with genocidal regime in Sudan
December 3, 2009 -- Updated 1906 GMT (0306 HKT)



Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. special envoy to Sudan reluctantly agreed Thursday that he is negotiating with a government that is carrying out genocide in Darfur in western Sudan.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, under questioning by a House subcommittee, said he has never met Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

However, Gration conceded he deals with senior officials of the Bashir government. When asked if the Bashir government was leading the genocide in Darfur, and therefore the United States was negotiating with perpetrators of genocide, Gration answered: "That's correct."

The hearing was the first by the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health on a new U.S. strategy for Sudan, which was unveiled by President Obama's administration in October.

Gration said the new strategy calls for ending the violence in Darfur, which the U.S. government has labeled as genocide; working to implement a 2005 peace agreement between Bashir's government and an independence movement in southern Sudan; and preventing Sudan from becoming a safe haven for Islamic extremist terrorism.

Earlier this year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir, accusing him of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in his government's campaign against rebels in Darfur.