EU considers threatening Sudan with sanctions
Source: Reuters
(adds quotes, demonstration, details) By Ingrid Melander BRUSSELS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers will consider on Monday threatening Sudan with sanctions if it refuses to allow U.N. peacekeepers into war-torn Darfur, diplomats said on Friday. Raising strong concerns about the "intolerable" situation in Sudan's remote west, ministers are also set to extend their support to the struggling African Union mission in Darfur and urge other donors to provide funding. Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes during the four-year-old conflict which Washington calls genocide, a charge Sudan denies. "The (EU) Council remains greatly concerned about the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in Darfur, which is clearly intolerable," a draft statement agreed by EU envoys for Monday's meeting said. The EU is set to denounce Sudanese air strikes against civilian targets, according to the draft, which mentions the bombing of villages in North Darfur on Dec. 29 and Jan. 5. EU envoys failed to agree this week how or even whether to mention the EU's readiness "to consider further measures against any party" that blocks the United Nations from helping the AU force restore peace in Darfur. But EU ministers might decide on Monday to mention sanctions while saying they would be carried out only in the U.N. framework, diplomats said. Britain is among those pushing for a strong line. The ill-equipped AU force has failed to stem the violence and protect aid workers, a major part of its mandate. It is under-financed and barely deployable, one EU diplomat said. Western nations are pressing Khartoum to accept a hybrid AU-United Nations force. Discussions on a peacekeeping force have been going on since early 2004, about a year after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government, charging neglect. In December, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir softened his position by agreeing to a "hybrid operation" in a letter to outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but has declined to elaborate publicly on the details. "We need to keep up the pressure," another EU diplomat said. "Khartoum is cooperating right now, but for how long?" The EU is also set on Monday to extend for another six months its support to the African Union mission, but without pledging a specific amount of money. "A large scale genocide is still looming and the situation is deteriorating rapidly with increased numbers of refugees," a European Commission official said on Friday. (additional reporting by Mark John and David Brunnstrom)
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