EU presses Sudan to accept U.N. mission in Darfur

BRUSSELS, Sep 15 (Reuters) The European Union pressed Sudan today to accept a 20,000-strong UN peace operation in Darfur, warning a security vacuum there could lead to humanitarian crisis reminiscent of the Rwanda genocide.

''Without transition to the United Nations and with the African Union leaving, we would, as Kofi Annan said, be going towards another Rwanda,'' European Commission aid spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said.

The UN secretary-general on Monday warned of further disasters in Darfur unless UN troops were deployed, evoking the 1994 genocide in Rwanda by asking if the international community could sit by and watch without intervening as another tragedy unfolded.

The EU's foreign ministers, meeting today in Brussels, supported Annan's position and urged Khartoum to drop its opposition to 20,000 United Nations forces replacing the cash-strapped 7,000-strong African Union mission.

The AU mandate in Darfur expires on September 30.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir yesterday fended off the pressure, once more refusing to allow the United Nations into Darfur.

He has likened the prospect to an invasion force whose goal is regime change. Analysts say the government in Khartoum fears UN forces would arrest suspects likely to be named in any war crimes warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.

Fighting, disease and hunger have killed some 200,000 people in Darfur and driven 2.5 million into squalid camps since the conflict started in 2003. The conflict has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Washington has called it genocide, a charge Khartoum denies.

STOP ATTACKING CIVILIANS US actor George Clooney and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel told the UN Security Council yesterday the world would be blamed for another Rwanda if atrocities in Darfur were not halted.

''In many ways it is unfair but it is nevertheless true that this genocide will be on your watch. How you deal with it will be your legacy,'' Clooney said. ''Your Rwanda, Your Cambodia, your Auschwitz.'' The EU's special envoy Pekka Haavisto said on Tuesday after a visit to Darfur that government forces were bombing civilians in an operation reminiscent of the early stages of the conflict.

The ministers ''stressed that the Sudanese Government should stop their military action in Darfur, abide by the ceasefire agreement and respect their commitments under the DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement).'' The DPA was signed in May by the government and one Darfur rebel faction but it has been denounced by thousands in Darfur who say it does not guarantee even their most basic rights.

Aid workers say since May the situation in Darfur has only deteriorated and their work has been greatly inhibited.

The EU ''condemned the continuous violations of the cease-fire by all parties, particularly the violence directed at the civilian population and the targeting of humanitarian assistance.'' Ministers were ''alarmed by the renewed fighting in areas of North Darfur, the recent military build-up in Darfur and the reinforcement of the government forces.'' Sudan is now sending troops to the region to fight rebels who did not sign a faltering May peace agreement.

The EU will exert diplomatic pressure on Sudan at next week's UN's General Assembly in New York, EU officials said.

REUTERS AB HS2122