Brussels, 10/08/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has four tracks for helping improve the situation in Darfur, said Peter Feith, returning from his five-day tour of the region, but the four tracks hang on the desire of EU countries to get involved and, more importantly, on cooperation from the Sudanese authorities.
Javier Solana's personal representative said that alongside political action, the EU could work with the Sudanese government to establish confidence measures (withdrawing the armed forces, creating protected zones in Darfur, etc) to enable refugees in eastern Chad to return to Sudan. The EU may also send 25 to 30 experts to the area, to join the command chain of the Sudanese police force with the aim of improving security and reinforcing respect for international human right standards. The fourth track is supporting the African Union, including the sending three battalions, if necessary, from other African countries to Darfur. At present, the EU has nine observers (as many as the US) in the African Union's observer mission. Negotiations are underway to increase the number of EU observers to one EU observer in each of the 12 observer teams.
After a day's visit to Darfur, where the European mission visited 4 or the 6 sectors covered by the African Union cease-fire, Pieter Feith stressed the complex nature of the situation, which he described as 'unclear'. He said the government's intentions were unclear, as were its relations with the janjawid militias, but he said 'We are not in a situation of genocide', since at present, there was no proof of systematic, coordinated action necessary to define a situation as genocide.