International pressure growing on Sudan over Darfur crisis

NAIROBI, July 28 (AFP) — The African Union (AU) accused Sudan’s pro-government militias of burning civilians alive in Darfur and sent out a clear signal it was considering sending in a peacekeeping force to the crisis-hit region.

The AU has said that a “full-fledged peacekeeping mission” could be sent to Darfur to force the government-backed Janjaweed militia to lay down its arms in line with a ceasefire signed in April.

The United Nations estimates 50,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict involving government forces and their Janjaweed allies against two rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement.

The AU’s Peace and Security Council on Tuesday asked the body’s chairman to prepare “a comprehensive plan on how best to enhance the effectiveness of the AU mission on the ground.”

“This includes the possibility of transforming the said mission into a full-fledged peacekeeping mission, with the requisite mandate and size to ensure the effective implementation of the ceasefire agreement,” an AU statement said.

The mission will lay much emphasis on the “neutralisation of the Janjaweed militia, the protection of the civilian population and the facilitation of the delivery of humanitarian assistance.”

The pan-African body is already planning to send some 300 troops to Darfur by the end of July to protect its team of observers and monitors overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire.

The Sudanese government, which has repeatedly pledged to disarm the Janjaweed, said Tuesday it would face down any foreign military intervention in the crisis.

More than one million people have been displaced from their homes since the conflict erupted in February 2003, with hundreds of thousands of others on the verge of starvation, according to aid agencies.

The AU, together with the European Union and the United States, has contributed men and means to the 118-strong ceasefire monitoring group, which was set up after the ceasefire brokered by Chadian President Idriss Deby.

That ceasefire has largely been ignored.

AU monitors declared on Wednesday that government-backed Arab militiamen chained and burned alive civilians in a raid on a market in Darfur.

“The attackers looted the market and killed civilians, in some cases chaining them and burning them alive,” said a report released in Nairobi by AU ceasefire observers in the region.

The report said the African Union monitors went to Suleia village, where the militia raid occurred July 3.

It said the raid was carried out by “militia elements believed to be Janjaweed.”

“This was an unwarranted and unprovoked attack on the civilian population,” the report said. However, it could not substantiate allegations that Sudanese government forces took part in the raid alongside the Janjaweed.

Powell arrived in Cairo late Tuesday on the first stop of a Middle East tour and met with President Hosni Mubarak as well as Egypt’s newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif.

Speaking at a press conference in Cairo after talks with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, Powell called the situation in Darfur “tragic”.

“Pressure must be kept on the Sudanese government to make sure that access is allowed and that security is improved,” he said.

“The situation in Darfur is a really tragic one.

“US policy in the Sudan in the last several years … has been to take off the sanctions, not to put on sanctions, and has worked very hard to achieve a reconciliation and an agreement between south and north,” Powell argued.

But “additional action may be required on the part of the international community,” he warned, “and that’s why we have put forward a resolution before the Security Council.”

A draft UN Security Council resolution, lodged on Tuesday, calls for sanctions unless Khartoum takes firm steps to resolve the situation in Darfur.

Cairo has argued that sanctions could prove counterproductive in resolving the Darfur crisis.

Germany on Wednesday demanded the United Nations take action over the crisis this week.

Overseas Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in a statement that in the light of the “catastrophic situation” in Darfur the UN Security Council must “finally” pass a resolution threatening sanctions if Khartoum fails to rein in the Janjaweed.

Wieczorek-Zeul condemned what she called “systematic rapes” of women in Darfur as a “tool of war” against the civilian population and said they must be viewed as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

She called for an independent commission to investigate the atrocities and bring those responsible to justice.

Berlin also announced a major increase in aid to Sudanese refugees. Germany will increase its aid to Sudanese refugees by 20 million euros (24 million dollars) to a total of 33.5 million euros, Wieczorek-Zeul said.