SUDAN: EC President Jose Manuel Barroso visits Sudan in peace bid

Top European Union officials met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday (September 30) to try to find common ground on ways to end the military crisis in Darfur and ease one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "We need to work together so that we can have real peace in Darfur. This is our concern, this is a very important concern as you know in the European Union," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said as he left the presidential palace in Sudan's capital Khartoum. "For me was important to understand the points made by the president of Sudan and I also convey to him very frankly and in a very open manner our concerns about the situation," Barroso added. International efforts to end more than three years of conflict in Sudan's vast west have intensified in recent weeks. The African Union peacekeeping mandate in Darfur, which expired on Saturday, was extended to December 31. The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution to send 20,000 U.N. troops to replace the 7,000 AU forces in Darfur. But Bashir has rejected the mission transfer saying it was a violation of Sudan's sovereignty and an effort by the West to colonise the African oil producing country. With discussions over the U.N. troops seemingly at a standstill, some diplomats and aid workers have suggested an alternative to the U.N. force which has been called AU-Plus. It would amount to an extended AU mission with enhanced policing powers and greater support from the United Nations. Barroso's approach to Sudan was markedly less confrontational than that of the United States in recent days. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday (September 27) told Sudan it must choose between "cooperation or confrontation" and accept a U.N. presence in Darfur. Barroso did not mention the U.N. peacekeepers during his brief remarks and a Sudanese official when asked about U.N. forces deflected the question and said pressure should be placed on Darfur rebels to sign a peace agreement.

ITN Source | October 1, 2006

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