Zoellick tours Sudan, official tries to prevent briefing

An interesting story from the Washington Post about an incident with Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and a Sudanese official. Here is a part of the article:


With the debris of a burned village crunching underfoot and African Union soldiers on guard, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick toured a hauntingly empty stretch of Sudan's war-torn Darfur region Thursday, seeing firsthand the violent devastation that continues here nearly three years after conflict broke out.
But the visit degenerated into an angry confrontation when a Sudanese official tried to prevent Zoellick from speaking with African Union monitors, shouting in his face repeatedly. Zoellick held his ground, while startled monitors moved closer, momentarily concerned that a fight might break out.
The incident was reminiscent of a July meeting in Khartoum, the capital, between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Bashir. Sudanese secret police roughed up several aides to Rice, including her translator, as well as foreign journalists trying to cover the meeting.

Click here to read the full article.

--Tom Hayes