Danish foreign minister demands justice in Darfur

STOCKHOLM, Dec 1, 2004 (Xinhua) — Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller expressed Denmark’s concern over violent human rights abuses in Darfur when meeting with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail, the Ritzau news bureau reported on Wednesday.

Sudanese refugee family stands in the Kounoungo camp.

Per Stig Moeller used the meeting on Tuesday in Khartoum to demand the prosecution of those responsible for reported mass killings, rapes and other human rights abuses in Sudan’s Darfur region.

“Denmark is concerned about the situation,” Moeller said, adding that the country would await the results of a UN commissionreport on Darfur in January.

Per Stig Moeller’s visit to Sudan with Defense Minister Soeren Gade is part of government preparations to assume a temporary seatin the UN Security Council, which has passed several resolutions on the situation in Sudan and its troubled province of Darfur.

“It’s not important whether what’s going on in Darfur is genocide. What’s important is stopping these attacks and bringing those responsible to justice,” said Moeller, who pledged that Denmark would provide soldiers if a UN response force is deployed to Sudan on a peacekeeping mission.