EU leaders express concern about Darfur rights violations

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 17, 2005 (AP) — European Union leaders said Friday they were deeply concerned about human rights violations against civilians in the strife-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

An aerial view of the destroyed Seraf village, in west Darfur along the Sudan and Chad border, April 22, 2005. (Reuters).

In a draft of its summit conclusions, the bloc urged all those involved in the conflict to cooperate with the International Criminal Court “to put an end to impunity and obstacles to justice and the reconciliation of the peoples of Darfur.”

“The European Council continues to be deeply concerned at the serious infringements of human rights and of international humanitarian law committed against the civil population in Darfur, and at the hindrance of the efforts of humanitarian organizations, and reminds the Sudanese government of its responsibility to guarantee the safety of its citizens and of those working on their behalf,” the draft said.

The leaders said they would work to restore peace in Sudan with an offer made last month to support an African Union mission there by helping with logistics, equipment, airlifts and training.

It urged all parties in the conflict to negotiate a “complete and definitive peace agreement in good faith.”

Last week the International Criminal Court announced the start of an investigation into alleged war crimes in Darfur, where at least 180,000 people have died and 2 million been displaced during two years of violence.

Darfur’s crisis erupted when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which the ethnic Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, committed wide-scale abuses against ethnic Africans.