EU to express strong concern on security in Darfur
Jan 19, 2007 (BRUSSELS) — European Union foreign ministers are to express strong concern about the “intolerable” situation in Darfur at a meeting on Monday and denounce air strikes on civilians by Khartoum, a draft text shows.
Ministers are to discuss whether and how to mention the possibility of sanctions if Khartoum refrains from cooperating with the United Nations, diplomats said, after EU envoys failed to agree on that point in preparatory talks this week.
Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes during the four-year-old conflict in Sudan’s remote west which Washington calls genocide.
“The (EU) Council remains greatly concerned about the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in Darfur, which is clearly intolerable,” the draft said.
“It condemns the continuing ceasefire violations by the parties to the conflict and denounces in particular air strikes against civilian targets carried out by the Sudanese Air Force, such as the bombing of villages in North Darfur on 29 December and on 5 January.”
EU envoys failed to agree this week whether and how to mention the EU’s readiness “to consider further measures against any party” that blocks the United Nations from helping the struggling African Union force to restore peace in Darfur.
EU ministers might mention the possibility of sanctions while saying such steps would be carried out only in the U.N. framework, diplomats said.
The ill-equipped African Union force has failed to stem the violence and protect humanitarian workers, a major part of its mandate. Western nations are pressing Khartoum to accept a hybrid AU-United Nations force.
Discussions on a peacekeeping force have been going on since early 2004, about a year after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government, charging neglect.
In December, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir softened his position by agreeing to a “hybrid operation” in a letter to outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but has declined to elaborate publicly on the details.
“We need to keep up the pressure,” another EU diplomat said. “Khartoum is cooperating right now, but for how long?”
The EU is also set to agree on Monday to extend for another six months its support to the African Union mission, but without pledging a specific amount of money.
“We need to find money but we don’t know yet where to take it from,” a diplomat from the EU’s current German presidency said.
The African Union will need some $343 million until the summer to finance its mission, the diplomat said.
(Reuters)