EU: Sudan has not done enough to protect Darfur’s civilians

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan has failed to provide sufficient protection for civilians in Darfur, the head of an EU delegation said Wednesday after talks with Sudan’s leaders.

While the European Union has set no deadline for the imposition of sanctions on Sudan, such an embargo could be adopted if Sudan fails to stop the violence in its western region, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot told reporters.

Speaking after talks with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir and Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, Bot said that the EU wanted the government to deploy more police officers in Darfur, disarm the Janjaweed militia and prosecute the perpetrators of human rights violations.

The Janjaweed is an Arab militia that has widely been accused of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Sudanese of African origin in Darfur. The conflict has claimed more than 50,000 lives, destroyed more than 400 villages and driven more than 1.4 million people, mostly Sudanese Africans, from their homes since it began in early 2003.

The government denies it arms and supports the Janjaweed.

“We believe that not sufficient progress has been made in the protection of civilians in Darfur,” said Bot, who has been leading a delegation of EU officials to Sudan. The delegation includes Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

Last month, the European Parliament called for U.N. sanctions and an arms embargo to be imposed on Sudan, saying the atrocities committed in Darfur region were “tantamount to genocide.”

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail dismissed EU talk of sanctions as “a colonial attitude.”

Ismail said the EU should impose sanctions against Israel whom he accused of defying international law and the United Nations.

Bot said the Sudanese leadership had assured him in their meeting that they would cooperate with the international community in addressing the problems in Darfur, which the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“What is important is that the Sudanese government has adopted an open and positive attitude” toward finding solutions in Darfur, Bot told a press conference.

He said the EU had not threatened to impose sanctions by a particular date.

“There is no question of a deadline or timetable for sanctions. What is important is that we continue dialogue,” Bot said.

He said the EU was considering sending police officers to train Sudanese police.

Foreign Minister Ismail said his government had told the EU delegation that it would look at all proposals on Darfur with an open mind, “but we will not accept any sanctions or threat of the use of sanctions.”