by Michael Thurston
BRUSSELS, July 26 (AFP) - The European Union on Monday urged the United Nations to pass a resolution threatening sanctions on Sudan if it fails to end the conflict in Darfur, drawing a warning from the Sudanese foreign minister that "threats" were counterproductive.
The conflict in western Sudan is already estimated to have cost tens of thousands of lives and humanitarian groups warn that although there is better access to the area and more aid workers are arriving the situation is not improving.
The Doctors without Borders (MSF) organisation said that there were "pockets of real disaster, where people are in danger of dying in large numbers."
EU foreign ministers, while welcoming a partial improvement in aid access to the western region, expressed "dissatisfaction that the government of Sudan has not implemented the other most urgent obligations" it faces.
"There is no indication that the government of Sudan has taken real and provable steps to disarm and neutralize the armed militia, including the Janjaweed," they said in a statement.
"There are continuing reports about massive human rights violations by the armed militia, including the Janjaweed, including systematic rape of women," they added.
Given unsatisfactory cooperation by Khartoum, "the Council (of EU ministers) appeals to the (UN Security Council) to pass a resolution with a view to taking further actions, including imposing sanctions, in case the government of Sudan does not immediately fulfil its obligations and commitments."
But Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said international "threats" would not help solve the crisis and urged the EU to be "balanced" in its statements.
"We don't need any threats or sanctions," he told reporters in Ankara after talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.
"Sometimes threats and pressure ... will have negative effects, because the rebels, who are still violating the ceasefire, who are reluctant to come to a political dialogue... they will always see this pressure as pressure on the government alone," he added.
"I urge the EU to be balanced in their statements so that the rebels will not take it by mistake in a different way that they should not be serious with the ceasefire and the political settlement," Ismail said.
The conflict in Darfur began in February 2003 with a rebel uprising against Khartoum, protesting that the largely black African region had been ignored by the Arab government of the oil-rich state.
In response, the pro-government Janjaweed and other militias went on the rampage, carrying out what aid and rights groups have called a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The conflict has claimed up to 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million have been displaced, with around 200,000 people taking refuge in neighbouring Chad, according to UN officials.
Prospects of foreign intervention have grown, with Britain and Australia saying they would send troops for a UN-mandated force and the United States lodging a draft UN resolution calling for sanctions against Khartoum if it does not act to end the bloodshed soon.
But Libya warned Monday that a non-African military deployment in Darfur to combat the humanitarian crisis in the strife-torn region of western Sudan could provoke an "explosive" situation.
The crisis in Darfur is "very dangerous", Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgham told a press conference, while criticising what he called "the US and Western escalation" in calling for foreign intervention.
"Darfur is situated on the Libyan border and, as a result, the security of the region affects the national security of Libya", he said.
Sudan has asked Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to sponsor peace talks to bring an end to 18 months of bloodshed in Darfur, the official Libyan news agency JANA reported earlier Monday.
Sudan at the weekend warned it would use force against any attempt at outside military intervention in Darfur, while rebels called for the quick arrival of foreign troops.