EU warns Sudan sanctions inevitable if no quick progress in Darfur
BRUSSELS, July 24 (AFP) — The European Union on Saturday warned Sudan’s foreign minister that the country will likely face international sanctions if there is not quick progress in ending the bloodshed in the western region of Darfur.
“If the situation doesn’t improve quickly, sanctions by the international community will inevitably follow,” the news agency ANP quoted Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot as saying following a meeting with visiting Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.
“There has been improvement, but it is not sufficient,” said Bot, whose country currently holds the EU presidency.
The UN estimates up to 50,000 people have died in Darfur and about 1.2 million have been driven from their homes since a revolt against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum broke out among indigenous black African ethnic minorities in February 2003. The UN considers this to be currently the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Earlier, the EU’s foreign and policy chief, Javier Solana, called on the Sudanese government to disarm the Arab Janjaweed militias accused by rights groups of slaughtering civilians and demanded unfettered access to the region for humanitarian groups.
Solana’s demands brought the European Union into line with the United States, which has demanded that Sudan halt the violence by the Janjaweed militias or face sanctions.
On Thursday the United States presented a draft UN Security Council resolution authorizing sanctions against Sudan if it fails to prosecute leaders of the Janjaweed.
Sudanese leaders have warned sanctions would only escalate and complicate the crisis in Darfur.
In his meeting with Ismail, Solana “urged the government to arrest the leaders of the Janjaweed, as a first significant step towards the dismantling of these militias, which are held accountable for most of the human rights violations in Darfur,” said his spokeswoman Cristina Gallach.
She said he had “acknowledged improvements in terms of humanitarian access to Darfur, but underscored the European Union’s wish for full and unhindered humanitarian access.”
“He also expressed the European Union’s satisfaction with the decision by the government of Sudan to send a high-level delegation to the start of the political talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” she said.
“Javier Solana hoped that the next round of talks scheduled for the beginning of August would provide more concrete outcomes.”