Valkenburg, 06/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - EU Foreign Ministers discussed developments in Darfur in the light of the report prepared by UN Special Representative for the Secretary General, Jan Pronk of the Netherlands. After their informal meeting in Valkenburg, the president of the Council pointed out that the Twenty-Five do not rule out sanctions against the authorities in Khartoum and that they have entrusted the Council secretariat with preparing a list. The European Union is ready to strengthen the aid provided to the African Union, mainly in the context of its observation mission in Darfur. It is willing to provide other kinds of assistance, including, where necessary, the sending of a team of police experts.
The 25-member informal ministerial meeting was extended on Saturday afternoon with a meeting of a group of ECOWAS Foreign Ministers and the secretary general of the organisation, Mohamed Ibn Chambas. The representatives of the West African countries and of the EU discussed progress already made and that which remains to be accomplished to ensure better security and greater stability on the continent. They also spoke of the situation in crisis countries such as the Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea Bissau, as well as extension of the moratorium on small arms with a view to adopting a convention that regulates the trade in this kind of weapons, described to the press by the ECOWAS Secretary General as being "weapons of mass destruction" in Africa.