Obama softens approach to Sudan

The Boston Globe reports:

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama pledged to get tough with Sudan, a regime accused of committing genocide in Darfur and waging a relentless war against its citizens in the south. He harshly criticized what he called the Bush administration’s “feckless’’ compromises with the regime.

But in the White House, Obama has adopted a far gentler approach.

His special envoy J. Scott Gration has called the regime in Khartoum his “friends’’ and has shied away from tough talk or new sanctions. This past week, the Obama administration announced a package of incentives for Sudan, including normalized relations, if Khartoum chooses peace. Gration said there would also be consequences if Sudan turns to war, but he didn’t detail what those would be.

The friendlier approach has alarmed some activists and former and current US officials who say the country could fall back into bloodshed and civil war unless the Obama administration strongly pressures Sudan to fully implement the peace agreement between Khartoum and the south brokered under former president George W. Bush.

Hope and change.