Gavmundo
06-25-2007, 11:15 AM
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called on the world to be "firm" with Sudan if it refuses to co-operate with efforts to end the conflict in Darfur.
He said "silence was killing" in the troubled region, as he opened talks in Paris between the world's major powers.
Some 200,000 people have died and 2.4m fled the violence in Darfur since 2003.
Officials from the US, Europe, China and the Arab League are among those at the conference, but Sudan and the rebel factions are not represented there.
The Sudanese government was not invited, while the African Union is boycotting the conference because it regards the French initiative as a distraction from its own mediation efforts.
'Unacceptable'
Speaking before the start of the conference, Mr Sarkozy called for the swift deployment of thousands of UN peacekeepers to support the current small African Union force presently operating in Darfur.
He also pledged an additional 10m euros ($13.4m) to the AU force.
"The lack of decision and the lack of action are unacceptable."
While Mr Sarkozy praised the Sudanese government for agreeing to the formation of a joint UN-AU peacekeeping force, he insisted it had to make more of an effort to bring peace to Darfur.
"We must be firm toward belligerents who refuse to join the negotiating table," he said.
Massacres
On Sunday, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said the world had failed the people of Darfur.
"I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities here," she told a news conference with the new French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner.
The two foreign ministers said there was a need for decisive action.
"If in fact the Sudanese are prepared to accept the hybrid force, they need to accept it once and for all and stop the process of trying to scale it back," Ms Rice said.
Mr Kouchner said there was still time to end the killing.
"I know that it has been going on for years. So what? Is that a reason to not be interested and let the massacres go on forever? Even if the massacres were bigger, they must be stopped," Mr Kouchner added.
Sudan's government denies backing the Arab Janjaweed militias accused of the worst atrocities against Darfur's black African population.
Khartoum says the scale of the problems has been exaggerated for political reasons.
I think Rice's speech about failing the people of Darfur yesterday was a bit pathetic. Everyone knows the major powers have failed the people and the last thing we need to hear are politicans telling us something we already know. The major countries have been a disgrace in this case. It's not so much the world but countries like the U.S, Britain, China, France, Russia, Spain, Germany via the highly ineffective U.N. It's a disgrace that countries only seem to react when it's in their own interests i.e when there's oil or something to gain out of the country. The thought of troops being killed just for protecting PEOPLE just isn't on is it!? What the International community has done (or not done in this case) is disgusting.
The politicians can make all the speech's they want but it's quite clear none of them care. The deployment of an African U.N. force has been completely ineffective. The Sudanese government don't want another force in there even though they say they will accept it (which they haven't) but who cares what the Sudan Government wants? Did America care what the Iraqi government (prior to the Gulf War) wanted? Do they care what the Iranian government wants? Send a real U.N. force in there now and at least try to save some people. The governments of "the world" have allowed enough people to be murdered already. They have blood on their hands although that's nothing new.
He said "silence was killing" in the troubled region, as he opened talks in Paris between the world's major powers.
Some 200,000 people have died and 2.4m fled the violence in Darfur since 2003.
Officials from the US, Europe, China and the Arab League are among those at the conference, but Sudan and the rebel factions are not represented there.
The Sudanese government was not invited, while the African Union is boycotting the conference because it regards the French initiative as a distraction from its own mediation efforts.
'Unacceptable'
Speaking before the start of the conference, Mr Sarkozy called for the swift deployment of thousands of UN peacekeepers to support the current small African Union force presently operating in Darfur.
He also pledged an additional 10m euros ($13.4m) to the AU force.
"The lack of decision and the lack of action are unacceptable."
While Mr Sarkozy praised the Sudanese government for agreeing to the formation of a joint UN-AU peacekeeping force, he insisted it had to make more of an effort to bring peace to Darfur.
"We must be firm toward belligerents who refuse to join the negotiating table," he said.
Massacres
On Sunday, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said the world had failed the people of Darfur.
"I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities here," she told a news conference with the new French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner.
The two foreign ministers said there was a need for decisive action.
"If in fact the Sudanese are prepared to accept the hybrid force, they need to accept it once and for all and stop the process of trying to scale it back," Ms Rice said.
Mr Kouchner said there was still time to end the killing.
"I know that it has been going on for years. So what? Is that a reason to not be interested and let the massacres go on forever? Even if the massacres were bigger, they must be stopped," Mr Kouchner added.
Sudan's government denies backing the Arab Janjaweed militias accused of the worst atrocities against Darfur's black African population.
Khartoum says the scale of the problems has been exaggerated for political reasons.
I think Rice's speech about failing the people of Darfur yesterday was a bit pathetic. Everyone knows the major powers have failed the people and the last thing we need to hear are politicans telling us something we already know. The major countries have been a disgrace in this case. It's not so much the world but countries like the U.S, Britain, China, France, Russia, Spain, Germany via the highly ineffective U.N. It's a disgrace that countries only seem to react when it's in their own interests i.e when there's oil or something to gain out of the country. The thought of troops being killed just for protecting PEOPLE just isn't on is it!? What the International community has done (or not done in this case) is disgusting.
The politicians can make all the speech's they want but it's quite clear none of them care. The deployment of an African U.N. force has been completely ineffective. The Sudanese government don't want another force in there even though they say they will accept it (which they haven't) but who cares what the Sudan Government wants? Did America care what the Iraqi government (prior to the Gulf War) wanted? Do they care what the Iranian government wants? Send a real U.N. force in there now and at least try to save some people. The governments of "the world" have allowed enough people to be murdered already. They have blood on their hands although that's nothing new.