Europe to help fund A.U. peacekeepers being sent to help resolve W Sudan crisis

BRUSSELS, June 10, 2004 (AP) — The European Union said Thursday it was giving EUR12 million to support the quick deployment of an African Union peacekeeping force to Sudan , where fighting has left more than a million people homeless.

Poul Nielson, the E.U.’s development commissioner, said in a statement that the money showed the 25-nation E.U. “will be a credible partner” for the African Union in its efforts to solve the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan .

“We believe that the success of this mission is crucial,” said E.U. spokesman Jean Charles Ellerman-Kingombe. “It is very much needed at this time in Darfur.”

He said that the E.U. contribution, which would cover half the cost of the peacekeeping mission, comes after the 53-nation African Union in May requested E.U. financial backing for sending observers to Sudan to help quell the violence.

Ellerman-Kingombe said the U.K., Denmark and Ireland have made individual contributions on top of the E.U. aid. He also said E.U. nations “are preparing to send between six to nine military observers to be part” of the African mission which is expected to include up to 120 observers and a protection force of 270 military personnel.

Ellerman-Kingombe later confirmed the African mission started to deploy on June 1, with observers from Namibia, Ghana and Nigeria.

They were to set up a headquarters in the western provincial capital of el-Fashir, which is located 90 kilometers away from the town of Kutum, which has seen heavy fighting between government and rebel troops.

Officials said the E.U. aid would come from a new EUR250 million peacekeeping fund the E.U. set up for Africa this year.

The EU head office has already sent EUR13.2 million in humanitarian aid to the victims of the conflict in the Darfur region. An additional EUR6 million has been sent to help Sudanese refugees that have fled to neighboring Chad.

The U.N. has described the 15-month conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The violence has killed thousands and has left more than 1 million people homeless. Arab militia supported by the Sudanese government have been accused of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The Darfur crisis is likely to be discussed at Monday’s E.U. foreign minister’s meeting in Luxembourg.