EU’s Solana pledges aid for African mission in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Oct 24 (AFP) — European Union foreign policy envoy Javier Solana reiterated Sunday a pledge to finance more than half the cost of an African Union force in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.

The EU will provide “more than half of the cost of logistical operations” to be conducted by AU troops in the western Sudanese region, Solana told reporters in Khartoum after meeting Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.

Solana was also expected during his trip to assess the government’s compliance with international demands, amid threats of UN sanctions against Khartoum over its role in the Darfur conflict.

The 20-month-old conflict has killed 70,000 people and forced close to 1.5 million from their homes, according to the United Nations.

And the international community has threatened to slap sanctions on the country’s vital oil industry if Khartoum fails to rein in its marauding proxy militias, accused of repeated atrocities in Darfur, including massacres and mass rape.

But Solana made no reference during a Khartoum press conference to any shortcomings by Khartoum, while Ismail said: “We have shown willingness for cooperation with the European Union.”

Solana is due to meet President Omar al-Beshir later Sunday.

This week the African Union announced it was set to boost the number of truce-monitoring troops in Darfur seven-fold to 3,320.

On a visit to Addis Ababa Saturday, Solana said the EU itself would fund the AU mission to Darfur up to 100 million dollars, while individual EU countries are expected to boost that amount to more than half the 221 million dollars needed.

“We are going to put about 100 million dollars from the EU, and when you add to what the member states are going to do, you will have more than half of the operational cost. We are very pleased to say that,” he said.

“Given the situation in Darfur, this mission has to be a success. The African Union is going to be a success with the cooperation of the international community,” Solana said.

Solana told the official SUNA news agency Saturday he wanted to see the situation on the ground in Darfur and to “know what efforts the Sudanese government is exerting to resolve the conflict.”

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, issued a stark warning to Beshir during a visit to Sudan two weeks ago, reiterating the threat of oil sanctions.

Solana’s visit comes after a mini-summit of Sudan’s neighbours in Tripoli last week aimed at finding a solution to the conflict, which erupted in February last year when rebels rose up to protest against the alleged marginalisation of the region’s black African tribes by Khartoum’s Arab regime.

The government responded by unleashing an Arab proxy militia, the Janjaweed.

AU-sponsored talks between Khartoum envoys and the two main Darfur rebel movements also kicked off in Nigeria on Friday.

The international community is demanding Khartoum crack down on its militias, provide security for civilians in Darfur and assist the humanitarian effort there.

The UN’s top envoy to Sudan is due to draft recommendations to the Security Council at the end of the month having recently stressed that not enough progress has been made.

As the international community turned up the heat on Khartoum over Darfur, Beshir was attempting to foster domestic alliances with major opposition parties.

Reconciliation talks continued in Cairo between the government and an umbrella organisation of major opposition parties.