TMP Online

Tony Blair should use next week’s G8 summit and next month’s EU summit to press for action on Darfur, according to a new report published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). The ippr’s report argues that targeted economic sanctions against the top members of the Sudanese Government are the best way to get Khartoum to accept a UN force in Darfur and reopen serious peace negotiations with the rebels.

In January 2006, a UN Panel of Experts belatedly drew up a list of seventeen individuals who have undermined peace in Darfur. A subsequent Panel of Experts report (in August 2006) included an additional confidential list of individuals identified for sanctions, including senior people in the Sudanese government. A parallel UN-appointed International Commission of Inquiry identified 51 people responsible for serious violations of international human rights law, including crimes against humanity or war crimes.

The IPPR report argues that the UN Security Council should impose an immediate assets freeze and a travel ban on all 17 people listed in that UN Panel of Experts report and on the 51 individuals named by the UN Commission of Inquiry. The IPPR says if the Security Council fails to agree this then the G8 and EU countries should act independently.

Since the start of the Darfur conflict in 2003, an estimated 200,000 people have been killed, more than two million people have been displaced and nearly four million people are now dependent on humanitarian aid for food, shelter and health care.

David Mepham, head of the IPPR’s international programme and report author, said:
“Tony Blair’s wider international reputation has been seriously damaged by Iraq but he retains credibility on Africa. Blair should make tougher action on Darfur and the resumption of a meaningful peace process top priorities during the final weeks of his premiership.
“The international community has consistently failed to match its strong rhetoric on Darfur with tough action. Any further international indecision and weakness would be inexcusable and short-sighted given that the conflict in Darfur is now impacting on the stability of the whole region. Targeted economic sanctions should be imposed on the Sudanese governing elite without delay.
“While sanctions have recently been imposed by the EU against Zimbabwe, Belarus, Moldova and Burma, most EU and G8 governments have been extraordinarily weak and slow when it comes to Sudan, where human rights abuses are much more serious.”