Ireland: A commission of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, currently holding its three-day summer meeting at Maynooth, has called on the Government to put pressure on the EU and the UN to apply sanctions against the perpetrators of the Darfur conflict in western Sudan.
The commission also called on the Irish people "to add their voices to those who are calling for an urgent increase in humanitarian aid to relieve the worst effects of the humanitarian disaster in Darfur".
The Irish Commission for Justice and Peace described the three-year war in Darfur as "one of the most ferocious and yet under-reported conflicts of the past decade".
The commission pointed to "the systematic targeting of civilians, the deliberate destruction of homes, grain stores and water sources, the abductions, mutilations and the systemic use of rape" as "a sobering picture of ethnic cleansing of the very worst kind".
"The people of Darfur are faced with a humanitarian disaster of truly frightening proportions."
The commission called on the Government to ensure "an increase in the number of peacekeeping troops in the region" and to "ensure that the Sudanese government and rebel groups halt all attacks on civilians and actively co-operate with UN authorised aid agencies".
The commission also called on the Sudanese government "to provide the necessary security co-operation, currently lacking, for aid workers and aid supplies, and to accept a UN peacekeeping force with an effective mandate to protect civilians."
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will visit Khartoum next month and the commission asked him to raise these issues.
