Sudan: EU threatens sanctions

2004-07-26 14:07

Brussels - European Union foreign ministers were expected to threaten Sudan with sanctions on Monday, seeking to pressure the Sudanese government to end the conflict in its western Darfur region.

Citing "grave concern" at reports of "massive human rights violations" that some have called genocide, EU ministers were hoping to push Sudan's government and rebel groups to resume peace talks.

They also planned to join the United States in pressing Sudan to let in more aid workers to provide emergency food and shelter for more than a million people displaced in Darfur.

The violence in Darfur began 15 months ago when two rebel groups from Darfur's African tribes took up arms in a struggle over land and resources. Arab militias known as Janjaweed then began a brutal campaign to drive out the black Africans.

Up to 30 000 people, most of them black Africans, have been killed and more than 1 million people have fled their homes. Some 2.2 million are in urgent need of food or medical attention, aid groups estimate.

The EU, the United States and humanitarian groups have accused the Sudanese government of backing the militias - a claim it denies.

Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the EU had already taken action, sending envoys to the country to try to end the fighting. She said the 25-nation bloc had to be "very strict" with Sudan.

"The question is what can be the right sanctions, or the right measures in order to make the government of Sudan to really comply," Ferrero-Waldner told reporters.

Ferrero-Waldner and other European officials have so far refused to label the killings in Darfur genocide, as the US Congress did last week.

"I don't have first hand information," if it is a genocide, Ferrero-Waldner said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the EU meeting would consider what further measures to take if the situation in Sudan does not improve.

The EU has already held several meetings with top Sudanese officials. Bot met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail late on Saturday and afterward, the Sudanese official insisted his country would prosecute militiamen. But he denied there was a genocide in Darfur.

Bot said he also would push for increased reconstruction aid for Darfur "so that we can create the situation where refugees can make a livelihood and feel secure when they return."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also backed the threat of UN sanctions unless Sudan disarms Arab militias responsible for killings in Darfur - a threat first made last week by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"The Sudanese government has the duty to guarantee people's security and the responsibility of bringing the militias before the courts and taking their weapons to end the violence," Fischer told ZDF television on Sunday after talking by phone with Powell.

- AP