MEP CALLS FOR DARFUR DISCUSSIONS

Fiona Hall has written to the Heads of State of European and African nations asking that they set aside time in the forthcoming summit for discussions on Darfur.

The EU-African summit, to be held in Lisbon on 7^th and 8^th of December, does not as yet include the crisis in Darfur on the agenda. Fiona Hall has joined MEPs from across Europe by signing a letter calling for Darfur to be an item of business during the Summit.Speaking of her hopes for the Summit, Fiona Hall said:

“It is astonishing that Darfur is not the first item of business for Lisbon. The crisis has claimed over 200,000 lives and the atrocities continue to go on daily.

“Over the past week Sudan has been put back on the front pages of UK papers with the case of Gillian Gibbons. But with her early release we can see what talking and negotiation can achieve.

“The international community has collectively failed the people of Sudan to date. I do not want this Summit to slip by without the Darfur crisis being put firmly on the agenda.”

The EU-African Summit is the first for seven years and has been set up to foster greater political and business co-operation between the two confederations.

Commenting, Ms Hall said:

“An EU peacekeeping force is soon to be deployed to neighbouring Chad, and it is in all our interests that we seek to resolve the ongoing conflict in Sudan that destabilises the entire region.”