Brussels, 16/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - EU foreign affairs ministers meeting on Monday in Luxembourg held debates on the situation in the wider Darfur region in the Sudan and agreed to the EU taking over the vice presidency of the cease-fire commission, as well as participating in a mission of observers at the invitation of the African Union (EUROPE 11 June p 5). Preparations are now ongoing in an effort to send six EU observers.
In its conclusions, the Council welcomes the African Union leading role in this monitoring mission and reiterates its commitment to provide full political support but also in terms of human resources, technical assistance, logistics and finance, notably through the peace in Africa facility which has just mobilised EUR 12 million for Darfur. It also declared full support for the efforts deployed by the UN and the recommendations by the High Commissioner for Human rights Bertrand Ramcharan.
Ministers have highlighted the importance of consolidating the cease-fire of 8 April, "in order to effectively end the fighting and the massive human rights violations…as well as to avert a looming humanitarian catastrophe by enabling the delivery of assistance to up to two million people affected by the conflict". In this regard, they are calling on all parties in the conflict to scrupulously respect the modalities of the Ndjamena agreement's implementation, to fully cooperate with the observation missions and ensure security. The Council underlines the responsibility of the Sudanese government to ensure protection of civilians, to disarm the Janjaweed militia and guarantee freedom of access to humanitarian agencies, including NGOs.
The Council says that it hopes consolidation of the cease-fire it will become possible to deal with the causes for the conflicts at local and national levels and to tackle the regional repercussions of the crisis.