EU Fails Sudan's Dispossessed
Responding on behalf of the EU to Saturday's call to action on Sudan, Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel has reportedly said, "We think of the people in Zimbabwe and Darfur. The suffering there is unbearable. We must look at stronger sanctions."
Is that all? At least 200,000 killed and 2.5 million displaced, and all Europe can do is to think about their plight and consider strengthening their presently very weak sanctions! What about demands for a peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and keep aid channels open, for a no-fly zone to prevent further aerial attacks against civilians, for Sudanese assets abroad to be frozen, and for an immediate extension of restrictions.
Coming just days after the UN also failed to reach any decision over the genocide, it seems clear that until serious institutional reform of the kind that I have previously written about elsewhere takes place in both the EU and the UN, these bodies will continue to fail oppressed peoples around the world.
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It might already be too late. The new UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator says humanitarian efforts to help Darfur could collapse if the situation there deteriorates any further.
It's incredible, that after cultivating a reputation for passion about reform and relief in Africa, both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown see no urgency in calling for more action in these countries.
Perhaps there is much going on diplomatically in the background that would be harmed by too much focus and rhetoric in the media. Or, there is so little conversation or debate between these two, or even the cabinet at large, that decisions simply don't get made.
On Zimbabwe and the need for tougher sanctions, Iain Dale has a story about the taxpayer footing the bill for Mugabe's daughter to study at the LSE.
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