Genocide survivors urges EU sanctions over Darfur

Oct 20, 2006 (HELSINKI) — Survivors of genocide, from the Nazi Holocaust to Rwanda, called on Friday for European Union sanctions to stop the Darfur conflict, saying so far the EU has done almost nothing to stop mass killing in western Sudan.

“I didn’t survive a Nazi concentration camp to sit back while genocide is repeated,” said Holocaust survivor Martin Stern, one of 120 people to sign an open letter to EU states.

“Europe can play a leading role in stopping this slaughter but it has to act now,” he added.

Sudan is resisting international pressure to allow 20,000 U.N. troops to replace African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, where 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in a three-year-old conflict.

The underfunded and badly equipped AU mission expires on Dec. 31 but so far there is no agreement on what will happen after that date.

In the meantime, violence in Darfur is worsening with government troops and allied militias, as well as rebels, blamed for new attacks.

Aid workers say their access is severely limited by fighting, and some have warned the humanitarian situation could deteriorate to levels seen in 2003 and 2004 when U.N. officials called Darfur the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Survivors from the Nazi Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda signed an open letter to EU states ahead of Friday’s summit of leaders in the Finnish town of Lahti, urging EU sanctions on the Sudanese government.

“We write to urge you to act now to end the genocide in Darfur,” it said. “Through the European Union you have the capacity to put real pressure on the Sudanese Government to stop the killing. But so far the EU has done next to nothing.”

The letter called on the EU to implement a U.N.-authorised no-fly zone over Darfur and to apply concerted pressure on Sudan to stop killing civilians and accept a U.N. force.

It also called for targeted sanctions in the form of asset freezes and travel bans on those responsible for rights abuses and for Brussels to set a date for EU-wide trade sanctions if the Sudanese did not respond to the pressure.

EU foreign ministers on Tuesday urged Sudan to stop the growing violence but stopped short of a sanctions threat.

However, British International Development Minister Hilary Benn said on a visit to Sudan on Monday the U.N. Security Council would soon have to look at other options if Sudan continued to refuse a U.N. mission.

U.S. President George W. Bush last week signed a law imposing sanctions on those responsible for genocide and war crimes in Sudan.

An EU official said British Prime Minister Tony Blair was expected to raise the Darfur issue at the summit on Friday.

Six Western aid agencies including Oxfam, Care International and Christian Aid issued a joint statement urging a greater EU leadership role in the Darfur crisis.

“Politicians cannot continue to ignore the suffering of the people of Darfur,” their statement said.

“If greater effort is not made to bring about a sustainable ceasefire to halt the violence and improve conditions on the ground, then the crisis … is going to become even worse.”

(Reuters)