Darfur: EU must take action now

THE humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced, has worsened in recent months.

While the Sudanese government this week agreed to accept phase two of the deployment of the agreed African Union-UN hybrid force, this limited number of UN troops (3,000) will not be enough to stem the violence.

Full implementation of phase three involving the deployment of over 20,000 troops in the region is the only way to provide civilians in Darfur with the comprehensive protection they require. The international community must continue to pressurise Khartoum to accept this final phase, while moving quickly now to implement phase two.

I have written to Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern prior to his attendance at the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) next week in Luxembourg where foreign ministers from all over Europe will congregate.

The European council has thus far responded to such blatantly broken agreements, repeated defiance of the international community and nearly four years of continued violations of international humanitarian law by all sides with expressions of ‘concern’.

To be precise, the GAERC has expressed its concern by mentioning it on 53 occasions in its conclusions since 2004. With the humanitarian effort at breaking point and clear signals from the regime in Khartoum that it remains unwilling to do its part to bring the violence to an end, the time for expressions of concern has irrevocably passed. Now is the time to act. The EU must take the lead in applying real, sustained pressure on the Khartoum regime to make the cost of continued conflict in Darfur greater than the cost, in terms of political power, of ending it.

As a first step, I am urging Mr Ahern and his colleagues, at their council on Monday, to agree to the application of targeted sanctions, specifically travel bans and asset freezes, on those individuals responsible for violations of humanitarian law on all sides and to propose making EU member state resources available for the enforcement of the no-fly zone over Darfur established by UN security council resolution.

Both of these measures were called for by the European Parliament in its resolution last February.

The letter to Mr Ahern is part of an initiative I have taken at the European Parliament where I have encouraged MEP colleagues to write to their foreign ministers on this matter prior to the next GAERC meeting.

I have also gathered MEP signatures for a similar letter to the presidency of the council.

The EU must not evade its responsibility to protect the civilians of Darfur, or defer acting on that responsibility to the UN security council.

The EU must take the lead on Darfur, acting in its own right as well as in the context of the UN.

Simon Coveney TD MEP

EPP-ED Group

Spokesperson for Human Rights

European Parliament

Strasbourg