EU threatens possible U.N. oil embargo, other sanctions against Sudan
By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
VALKENBURG, Netherlands, Sept 4, 2004 (AP) — European Union foreign ministers reaffirmed Saturday that they would push for U.N. sanctions against Sudan, including a possible oil boycott, if the country does not move to end the fighting in its western Darfur region.
“We will continue to exert pressure on the Sudanese government to comply … we certainly do not exclude sanctions,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU presidency.
Punitive measures could include an embargo on Sudanese oil and cutting off EU financial aid to the impoverished country, Bot told reporters after the EU ministers held talks about the conflict in Darfur.
“The situation … remains worrying,” Bot said.
Arab militias called Janjaweed are blamed for violence in the region that has killed some 30,000 people and forced over 1.2 million to flee their homes, creating what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Sudanese government denies accusations it backs the Janjaweed to put down black African rebel groups that have been fighting government forces since 2003.
The EU has called on Khartoum to stop the fighting and comply with United Nations demands to enter into peace talks with the rebels. The 25-nation bloc has already suspended some A?60 million (US$72 million) in development aid to Sudan.
EU Development Commissioner Poul Nielson said some 500 aid workers were now dealing with the hundreds of thousands of refugees on Darfur’s borders with neighboring Chad. He said such a crisis would normally see some 2,000 aid workers deployed.
“There is still a real problem,” Nielson said, but added that the aid situation was starting to improve.
The EU ministers were discussing Darfur with their 15 counterparts from ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States.
African Union Commission President Alpha Oumar Konare, whose 53-nation organization already has monitors and peacekeepers in Darfur, was also attending.
The EU has said it would back any African moves to take the lead in solving the Darfur crisis, and was considering options, including backing a beefed-up African police and peacekeeping mission there.
“The African Union must take ownership of this crisis,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The AU currently has about 80 military observers in Darfur, protected by just over 300 soldiers, monitoring a rarely observed cease-fire signed in April.
In a report now being discussed at the U.N. Security Council, U.N. envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, called for an expanded mandate for the monitoring force in Darfur. Pronk did not specify how large the force should be, but a U.N. plan presented to the AU called for about 3,000 peacekeepers.
Pronk also concluded the time for sanctions “had not yet arrived and that we should give the government a few more weeks.”
The United States however reacted angrily to that recommendation and said there was evidence Sudan’s government was backing Arab militias in Darfur.
On July 30, the U.N. Security Council gave Sudan 30 days to improve humanitarian access and rein in the Janjaweed, or face punitive economic and diplomatic measures.
EU officials said the 25-nation bloc would probably help fund an expanded mission, adding however, that it was too early to say whether the EU would itself send observers or peacekeepers to Darfur.
The EU has sent A?285 million in humanitarian aid to Darfur since the crisis started, Nielson said. It has also already given A?12 million (US$14.5 million) to help fund the AU mission.