At a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on Tuesday 10 February, the European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, stressed the need for a political solution to the conflict in Sudan. Ms Lahbib reiterated the EU’s determination to maintain coordinated international pressure in favour of a ceasefire, a civilian transition and the prosecution of those responsible for abuses.
The Commissioner also assured that the EU would not hesitate to resort to new restrictive measures and to maintain its diplomatic efforts, particularly at forthcoming high-level political meetings.
Speaking on behalf of the Christian Democrats, MEP Ingeborg ter Laak (EPP, Dutch) described “a forgotten war”, marked by the systematic use of hunger and sexual violence as weapons. She denounced the third countries that continue to supply the conflict with weapons, and called on Europe to play its full part in the peace negotiations in order to ensure humanitarian access and offer Sudanese children a future.
For the Social Democrats, Marit Maij (S&D, Dutch) condemned the brutality of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and judged the European response to be inadequate, criticising the European Commission for limiting itself to “monitoring the situation”. The MEP called for an investigation to be launched into the possible inclusion of the RSF on the list of terrorist organisations and for the matter to be referred to the Foreign Affairs Council.
Adam Bielan (ECR, Polish), on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists, spoke of a war of attrition marked by crimes against civilians and increasing religious persecution of Christians. He called for restrictive measures to be extended and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
On behalf of Renew Europe, Jan-Christoph Oetjen (German) recalled the unprecedented scale of the displacement crisis and called for humanitarian aid to be stepped up, accompanied by increased diplomatic pressure and targeted sanctions against those hindering access to aid.
For the Greens/EFA, Nela Riehl (German) denounced a “proxy war” and called for the designation of the RSF as a terrorist organisation in order to place the protection of civilians at the heart of European action.
Ilaria Salis (Italian), for The Left, denounced a war fuelled by gold trafficking and arms supplies, calling for an end to arms sales to all parties and the extension of the embargo to the whole of Sudan.
No MEPs from the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group took the floor during the debate.
On Thursday 27 November, the European Parliament adopted a resolution paving the way for a possible EU listing of the Rapid Support Forces as a terrorist organisation (see EUROPE 13761/18). (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)