Action sought on Darfur, Mugabe at EU-Africa summit

LISBON - European and African parliament members told their leaders on Friday they would be ignoring the plight of thousands of civilians if they failed to tackle the crisis in Sudan's Darfur at a weekend summit in Portugal.

The appeal by 40 parliamentarians was joined by 50 European and African human rights groups. They said in a separate letter that not acting on the crisis would mean turning "our back on the people of Darfur", where 200,000 people have been killed.

The U.N. Security Council approved in July a U.N.-African Union peace mission of 26,000 soldiers and police for Darfur. But U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno has cast doubt on the mission due to restrictions imposed by Sudan.

"MPs, campaigners and human rights activists are all asking the same question: how can our leaders ignore one of the world's worst crises?" asked Glenys Kinnock, a member of the European Parliament.

"Especially when (Sudanese) President (Omar Hassan al-) Bashir, the man primarily responsible for so much of the suffering, is in their midst," she said in a statement.

The EU-Africa summit, the first in seven years, formally takes place on Saturday and Sunday but the more than 70 EU and African leaders began arriving for a banquet on Friday evening.

The EU has come under fire from human rights activists for allowing Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to attend.

Mugabe, who arrived in Lisbon late on Thursday, is accused by the West of rigging elections and suppressing opposition but is seen by African leaders as an independence hero and many said they would not attend if he was not invited.

Previous attempts to hold the summit have failed over Mugabe's attendance but this time the EU, mindful of growing Chinese influence in Africa, decided to hold the summit and invite Mugabe.

A European visa ban on the Zimbabwean leader was lifted for the event, allowing him to set foot on the continent for the first time since 2001.

Reed Brody, counsel of Human Rights Watch, said if Mugabe participates in the summit like any other leader, he would come out as the victor. "But if the European and African leaders take him to task on human rights, then maybe we may have accomplished something."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is boycotting the event because of Mugabe's attendance.



NO TABOO SUBJECTS

The summit will cover peacekeeping, migration, human rights, energy, trade and development but there are no specific topics on the agenda. A Portuguese diplomat said any participant can raise any subject.

"There are no taboo subjects," the diplomat said.

The letter by parliamentarians said they were "surprised and disappointed" that no time had been allotted to discussing the Darfur conflict, which has displaced half a million people. Protecting citizens should be at the top of the agenda of the meeting, it said.

"The question for this summit is are they going to pledge joint action to protect civilians and still allow the people of Darfur and Somalia to die?" asked Brody. "Are they going to shake hands to combat corruption while European banks sock away the ill-gotten gains of African dictators?"

U.N. peacekeeping chief Guehenno has questioned the viability of a Darfur mission because of Sudanese restrictions on its movements and refusal to accept non-African troops.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday a failure by countries to supply transport and attack helicopters had put the Darfur mission at risk.