US Zoellick to discuss Darfur in Belgium, France
Mar 7, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — US Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick will travel this week to Belgium and France to meet with European and African leaders on ways to push forward the peace process in Sudan and its conflict-ravaged Darfur region, the State Department announced Tuesday.
“Bringing an end to the suffering of millions in Darfur and promoting peace, security and development throughout all of Sudan is an American priority, one we share with Africa, Europe, and the U.N.,” said Zoellick, who will meet with officials Wednesday in Belgium and attend a conference Thursday on Sudan in France.
The talks at the European Union headquarters in Brussels will focus on how the E.U. and the U.S. can help spur talks between the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur, where a three-year rebellion has left an estimated 180,000 people dead – mainly of hunger and disease. Another 2 million have been displaced by the fighting.
The U.N. has described the Darfur conflict as the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis. The U.S. has described it as genocide.
E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday the talks also would consider the possibility of converting the current African Union peacekeeping force to a U.N. mission, a process he said would take months.
Zoellick also is to discuss NATO’s current and possible future assistance for the African Union mission in Sudan with the Atlantic alliance’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The A.U. mission’s mandate expires at the end of March.
Officials also will discuss Sudan-Chad relations in the aftermath of the Darfur crisis. An estimated 300,000 Darfur refugees have crossed Sudan’s western border into Chad to escape the violence.
Thursday to Friday in Paris, Zoellick will attend the Sudan Consortium Conference, an event bringing together political, economic, development and civil society leaders from Sudan and its international partners.
Zoellick also will hold bilateral discussions in Paris with Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the State Department said.
(ST/AP)