No genocide in Darfur but large-scale killings: EU

BRUSSELS, Aug 9 (AFP) — A European Union delegation of civilian and military experts that completed a mission in Sudan said Monday that large-scale killings were taking place in the strife-torn region of Darfur but the killings could not be qualified as genocide.

“We are not in the situation of genocide there,” said Pieter Feith, who headed the mission as the personal representative for Sudan of EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana.

“But it is clear there is widespread, silent and slow killing going on and village burning of a fairly large scale.”

Feith added that there were “considerable doubts as to the willingness of the government of Sudan to protect the civilian population”.

His delegation had arrived in Darfur last Tuesday for a five-day mission to evaluate how the EU can help implement a ceasefire in the western region.

Sudan’s government is under mounting international pressure to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

As many as 50,000 people have died and 1.2 million have been forced from their homes since rebels in Darfur launched an uprising in February 2003, sparking a crackdown by Sudanese forces and an Arab militia called the Janjaweed.

The UN Security Council has called on Khartoum to rein in the Janjaweed, blamed for most of the atrocities against civilians in Darfur, within 30 days or face unspecified measures.

The EU envoy said however that the extent of Khartoum’s control over the Janjaweed was unclear, and that they “sometimes seem to be acting independently, sometimes as security forces of the government”.

He said Brussels was looking to work with the Sudanese government to defuse the crisis, and mentioned the possibility of sending police reinforcements to operate under Sudanese command.

“We have offered that EU police advisors be positioned and deployed in the chain of command of Sudanese police forces,” he said, while stressing that such a step would need approval from all 25 EU member states.