UN must decide if Darfur genocide, says EU official

It is up to UN experts to determine whether killings and other atrocities in the Sudanese province of Darfur amounted to genocide, the EU said today.

The US Congress and some humanitarian groups have accused the Sudanese government of genocide, but US President George Bush has held off on making a judgement.

An EU military-civilian team that visited the region last week reported yesterday that atrocities were being committed on a large scale, but declined to classify them as genocide.

Team leader Pieter Feith stressed, however, that his trip was only five days and was not an expert mission.

“It’s up to the United Nations … to make this decision,” an EU official said in Brussels today. “The aim of his mission was not to see if this was genocide or not. The aim was to see how the EU could further support” resolving the crisis.

The United Nations describes the 18-month conflict in Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Pro-government Arab militia have waged a counterinsurgency campaign that has seen widespread destruction of villages and the displacement of about one million people. Some 30,000 people have been killed.