(Updates with U.S. response) By Opheera McDoom KHARTOUM, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Sudan expects to normalize relations with Washington within 4-6 months after more than a decade under U.S. sanctions, the Sudanese foreign minister said on Monday after talks with a new special American envoy. In Washington, however, the State Department said there was no proposed new timetable for normalizing ties. Spokesman Tom Casey said Sudan must first help end violence in its Darfur region and cooperate with setting up a United Nations-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping force there. The United States imposed economic sanctions on Sudan in 1997 and labeled it a "state sponsor of terrorism." Although Washington has a large embassy in Khartoum, it does not have a full ambassadorial post. Removing sanctions was tied first to ending a long running war in the south of Africa's largest country, but after a north-south peace deal the separate conflict in Darfur brought a new U.S. focus on human rights and kept relations icy. "The end game is normalization of relations between the two countries," Foreign Minister Deng Alor told reporters after meeting Richard Williamson, who was making his first trip to Sudan since taking up his post. "We have a timetable something between now and the coming four months ... maximum six months." He said normalization could include restoring a U.S. ambassador in Sudan, lifting some or all the sanctions and removing Sudan from the list of sponsors of terrorism. But neither he nor the U.S. envoy would be drawn on what specific conditions Sudan needed to meet to achieve this. Williamson described the meeting as "businesslike and pragmatic," adding that his job was to move towards peace in Darfur and cement the 2005 north-south deal known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). "Progress cannot be just in lofty rhetoric but deliverable specifics on the ground where we can find common cause," he said. In Washington, Casey said U.S. policy on its relations with Sudan had not changed. In order for there to be progress on bilateral relations, the United States expected that Sudan would cooperate fully with deployment of the UNAMID force "and that they also take the kind of concrete steps to halt violence by the Janjaweed (militias) and others in Darfur," he said. Casey said U.S. envoy Williamson was scheduled to go to Darfur and south Sudan later this week. Williamson replaced Sudan veteran Andrew Natsios who resigned last year, a move diplomats said was out of frustration at the lack firm action from Washington on key issues like supporting the north-south deal. Despite the difficult relations in public, Sudan has cooperated with Washington on security matters and in the "war on terrorism" declared by President George W. Bush. But a powerful U.S. domestic lobby has pressured the administration to continue its hard-line approach to Khartoum until the Darfur conflict is resolved. The Bush administration has been a lonely voice in calling the fighting in Darfur genocide. A U.N. investigation found only that some people may have acted with genocidal intent. Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the central government of neglect. Khartoum mobilized mainly Arab militia to quell the revolt. (Editing by Matthew Tostevin and David Storey)
A boy holds up a toy gun at the Al Salaam camp for internally displaced people (IDP) on the outskirts of El Fasher, the administrative capital of North Darfur, in this ...
