Only a full AU-UN force can solve the Darfur crisis

4.52.08pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 5th Jun 2007

An extraordinary meeting of the leaders of political groups in the European Parliament today which was attended by Nobel peace-prize winners Archbishop Tutu and Jody Williams drew attention to the plight of the Darfuri people. At the meeting, European Liberal Democrat Leader Graham Watson called for European leadership in launching a Marshall plan for Africa, starting with Darfur.

"Darfur is not only a humanitarian but a political disaster. It is a statement of the world's impotence and incompetence in protecting victims of genocide. While Javier Solana's proposal for further sanctions on Sudanese trade is welcome as are demands for a new UN Security Council resolution, they are too little, too late. When G8 leaders meet this week in Heiligendamm they need to be much more ambitious" said Graham Watson. "I concur with Desmond Tutu when he said "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor". The people of Darfur deserve better than Europe's neutrality".

The European Liberal Democrat Leader called the deployment of a full African Union - United Nations peacekeeping force the only solution for the stabilisation of the region.