UK's MEP Glenys Kinnock calls for extended AMIS mandate with adequate EU funding

4 Sep 2006 UK News Wales report excerpt:

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Glenys Kinnock said: "There is now the risk of a massive humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur as the hard-line Sudanese Junta refuses to accept UN troops agreed last week by the security council.

"Tension is building up and a large-scale military confrontation is threatened as thousands of Sudanese troops move into Darfur with trucks, bombs and guns.

"There is a real risk that Darfur will be closed to all external organisations and we will not know the extent of the catastrophe until after the event."

Mrs Kinnock, Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States - EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, called for the European Commission to work to extend the mandate of the AU peacekeeping force until a UN force can be deployed. She also urged the EU to ensure the necessary funding was available to sustain the force.

She said: "The EU's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, must make urgent representations to the Sudanese and to the African Union to ensure that the mandate of the AU can be extended until such a time as a UN force can be deployed.