UK Blair urges Europe to back sanctions against Sudan

March 22, 2007 (LONDON) — U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair has written to European Union leaders, calling for sanctions against the Sudanese government to force it to end attacks on civilians in the western region of Darfur.

In a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose nation holds the rotating presidency of the EU, Blair urges backing for United Nation sanctions aimed at the 100 senior members of Sudan’s government. Copies of the letter were sent to other EU heads of government.

“The burden of the letter is that enough is enough,” Blair’s spokesman, Tom Kelly, told reporters today. He said Sudan’s President Umar al-Bashir “is clearly not complying” with an agreement for a peacekeeping force.

The U.S. last week accused al-Bashir of backtracking on a commitment to allow a joint peacekeeping force of African Union and UN troops into the country. Al-Bashir, whose government last year agreed in principle to an AU-UN force, rejected a plan to put the UN in command of the peacekeepers.

At least 200,000 people have died in the four-year conflict, which pits rebels demanding a greater share of Sudan’s political power and wealth against the national government, according to a United Nations report released this month.

Possible sanctions include travel bans and the freezing of overseas bank accounts, Kelly said.

(Bloomberg)