EU fact-finding mission heads to Darfur

BRUSSELS, Aug 2 (AFP) — A European Union mission will head to Darfur on Tuesday to evaluate how the EU can help implement a ceasefire in the strife-torn Sudanese region, an official said Monday.

The seven-strong team of civilian and military experts will be led by Pieter Feith, the personal representative for Sudan of EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana, the official in Solana’s office said.

“The goal is to assess how the EU can help the African Union in strengthening the existing ceasefire monitoring mission,” the aide told AFP.

The team’s trip will last five days and will take in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and the capital of neighbouring Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, as well as Darfur.

The fact-finding mission was mandated by EU foreign ministers at a meeting late last month which also called for the UN Security Council to threaten sanctions on Sudan if it fails to meet pledges to defuse the crisis in Darfur.

But in the event the Security Council passed a watered-down resolution Friday threatening “international measures” against Sudan if it did not rein in its troops and allies in the Janjaweed militia blamed for much of the slaughter in the western area of Africa’s largest country.

The African Union has said it may transform a planned protection force into a full peacekeeping mission to force the Janjaweed to lay down its arms.

The pan-African body already has plans to send some 300 troops to Darfur to protect its team of observers and monitors overseeing the implementation of a shaky ceasefire deal between the militia and ethnic minority rebels.