France backs off plan for Darfur humanitarian corridor

June 6, 2007 (PARIS) — French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appeared to back off Wednesday from a proposal for a “humanitarian corridor” for Darfur but insisted France was working out a plan to help the troubled Sudanese region.

Kouchner, who co-founded the aid group Doctors Without Borders and has been a prominent humanitarian crusader, has sought to focus on Darfur since President Nicolas Sarkozy named him last month. Kouchner first floated the idea of a humanitarian corridor May 29, but some aid groups protested that it would be too risky.

On Wednesday, Kouchner said, “A humanitarian corridor is a good concept when it can be adapted.” He said the initial idea was for an aerial corridor, but that “it is not at all certain that we can do it.”

“We cannot decide for others,” he said after a government meeting, but didn’t elaborate.

France has troops stationed in neighboring Chad. French diplomats have said those troops could be used to patrol a humanitarian corridor into Darfur or other operations.

Kouchner said that the important thing was to ensure the security of people living outside refugee camps.

He said that there would be “a French plan” for Darfur but didn’t detail it. Sarkozy is expected to discuss Darfur with other world leaders at the Group of Eight summit in Germany this week.

Kouchner said Tuesday he is planning a conference on Darfur in Paris on June 25 among a new “contact group” that would include G8 members and China and South Africa.

Violence in Darfur between rebels and the pro-government janjaweed has killed as many as 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million since 2003. The African Union currently has a 7,000-strong force in Darfur, but it has been unable to stop fighting. The U.N. is pushing to boost the African Union force with U.N. peacekeepers, but Sudan has resisted.

(AP)