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Britain, France plan campaign for Darfur

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 21, 2007

PARIS - The new leaders of France and Britain said Friday they are prepared to go to Darfur to push for peace and will jointly push the U.N. Security Council to speed up efforts to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Sudanese region.

Sudan's government has been accused of aiding Arab militias known as janjaweed in a four-year war with ethnic African rebels in the arid region torn by long-standing disputes over land and water. Sudanese leaders deny doing that, but have resisted U.N. efforts to send peacekeepers.

"People are dying and people are suffering. It must stop," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a news conference with Gordon Brown, the new British prime minister, after their first meeting since both took office.

Brown said France and Britain will push for a Security Council resolution to deploy more African Union and United Nations peacekeepers to the area.

"We hope that that resolution will pass quickly," he said. "Once the United Nations resolution is passed, we are prepared to go together to Darfur to make sure that the peace process is moving forward."

Sarkozy said such a trip could take them both to Sudan and the Darfur region, as well as to neighboring Chad, where the fighting has spilled over.

The four-year conflict between ethnic African rebels and pro-Sudanese government janjaweed militia in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5-million.

A 7,000-soldier African Union force has been unable to stop the fighting, and U.N. officials have been pushing for months to get Sudan to allow a 26,000-member African Union-United Nations force.

[Last modified July 21, 2007, 01:43:26]