Brussels, 28/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - Speaking before the few MEPs present from the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, Torben Brylle, EU Special Representative for Sudan, took stock on Thursday 27 March of the situation in this region. The debate was mainly on the EU mission in Chad and the Central African Republic (EUFOR Tchad/RCA), which has the task of ensuring security of the camps for Sudanese refugees and displaced persons from Chad. Deployment of the mission is progressing, Mr Brylle said, hoping that troops will be fully operational by the beginning of the rainy season (about May). “The political process has not developed as we hoped” in Sudan, he explained, noting that the humanitarian situation there has not improved. “There is no military solution, the only sustainable solution is political”, Mr Brylle said, stressing that the conflict between North and South should not be neglected.
Tobias Pflüger (GUE/NGL, Germany) felt that the current conditions quite simply do not allow the EUFOR Tchad/RCA mission to be pursued, as it is too closely associated with the French military mission in Chad, making it difficult to believe in EUFOR's neutrality. He went on to say that the only loss of life within EUFOR was deplored in Sudanese territory, but asked what the French soldier was doing in an area that is not normally part of the territory covered by the mission. He said it was irresponsible to continue conducting operations and that it is up to the Council to “stop this mission now”. Such a position is obviously not shared by Mr Brylle who believes that the Chadian population has quite a good understanding of EUFOR's specific role, its neutrality and its impartiality. A mid-term evaluation of the EUFOR mission will be carried out during the autumn and recommendations for continuing the mission will be made, Mr Brylle said.
Given the delay in the deployment of another mission, that of the UN and the African Union in Darfur (MINUAD), Ana Maria Gomes (PES, Portugal) was highly critical of the manoeuvring by Sudan and others to slow down the arrival of troops. She also regretted the aborted attempt to adopt a balanced text on Chad and Sudan during the meeting of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Ljubljana due to intervention by Sudan and Ethiopia. She emphasised that this showed one should “not think of Sudan as a failed state” as it is, in fact, “a very well-oiled machine”. Sudan poses serious security problems in the region, Mr Brylle acknowledged, also expressing concern about the development of relations between northern and southern Sudan. Implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement signed in 2005 is, in this respect, essential. Michael Gahler (EPP-ED, Germany) was reticent about the will of the Sudanese government to organise, in 2009, a ballot that deserves the name of “election”. The organisation of elections is a lengthy business, Mr Brylle stressed, unable to say whether the deadline set will be kept. (A.B.)