Brussels, 10/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The delegation of MEPs sent to Sudan and Chad recently, by the European Parliament's Development Committee to collect information on the Darfur crisis (see Europe of 2 September, p.7) has returned greatly concerned by affairs on the ground. The mission will report back to the European Parliament on Monday, followed by a resolution on the Darfur crisis by the plenary in Strasbourg the same day. Deteriorating security due to the redeployment of government troops and militias in Sudan, huge damage in Fashir-Gallab region caused by recent air attacks, refugees being terrorised and the lack of any political will by the Sudanese authorities to guarantee greater protection to civilians are some of the elements of the sorry picture the MEPs will be drawing. Jana Hybaskova (EPP-ED) commented that refugees are in fear of their lives, with no confidence in the Sudanese authorities and desperately calling for protection from the international community in any form. In Chad, where the arrival of more than 200,000 refugees has led to a complete breakdown in local healthcare and education services and a serious deterioration in the environment, living conditions are extremely precarious but there have been improvements in the supply of humanitarian aid and vaccinations, said the MEP. Rapporteur for the EP's mission for the EPP-ED group, he wants the European Parliament to call for a doubling of the number of African Union and Sudanese Ceasefire Committee observers in the field, the establishment of an international investigation committee and a huge increase in the number of human rights observers. He said the key issue was strong political pressure on the Sudanese government to get it to immediately cease its air attacks and daily arming of the PDF and its militias. The international community, the African Union, the United Nations and the EU have to work more closely together, he said, and seriously consider measures like targetted sanctions and increasing the international presence in Sudan to force the Sudanese government to immediately start protecting Sudanese civilians.