92000E0005

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0005/00

by Nicole Thomas-Mauro (UEN) to the Council

(14 January 2000)

Subject: Situation in Sudan

While the international community, the European Union and its Member States quite rightly express their anger at the difficult circumstances faced by various peoples around the world, amidst widespread indifference the Christian minority in southern Sudan is being subjected to unacceptable persecution by the government authorities.

The latter are implementing a policy of forced Islamisation, causing the Christians to flee en masse. They are misappropriating humanitarian aid and carrying out murder, torture and the abduction of women and children to be sold as slaves or prostitutes.

Could the Council state what measures it has taken or intends to take in response to this intolerable situation? Could it not encourage the Member States to take at the same time strong measures to persuade the Sudanese authorities to respect human dignity, religious freedom and human rights in general?

Reply

(10/11 April 2000)

The Council agrees with the Honourable Member that the human rights situation in Sudan is worrying. The European Union raised the human rights situation in Sudan at the 55th session of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and in the Third Committee convened at the 54th session of the UN General Assembly, and has called on the Sudanese Government to improve the situation on the ground and to cooperate fully with the UN mechanisms, while recognising that some progress has been achieved in the course of the year.

In parallel, the EU engaged last year in a dialogue with the Government of Sudan which centres on the peace process, on reforms based on democracy and the rule of law, on the respect of human rights, on policies against terrorism and on Sudan's relations with its neighbours with the aim of improving the

situation in all of these areas. This dialogue has just begun and it is therefore too early to draw conclusions, all the more so in the light of recent developments with regard to Sudan's internal situation (dissolution of the Parliament on 12 December 1999 and formation of a new Government) as well as the positive move to normalisation of its bilateral relations with its neighbours, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda. The Council is, of course, fully aware that positive developments at this stage do not necessarily secure the respect of human rights throughout this largest country on the African continent.

The Council will continue to monitor the situation in Sudan very closely and to contribute, within its possibilities, to an improvement of the human rights situation in this country.