WRITTEN QUESTION E-1929/03

by Lennart Sacrédeus (PPE-DE) to the Council

(13 June 2003)

Subject: Population movements in the oil-rich areas of Sudan

The bloody civil war in Sudan has claimed two million lives. Four million people have fled their homes. European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS), a network of 70 European organisations, predominantly church-based and other Christian bodies, notes that tens of thousands of Sudanese nationals have been forced to flee from Reweng County in the West Upper Nile region as a result of conflicts over oil extraction, and with the knowledge of the oil companies. A large proportion of the revenue which oil brings into Sudan goes on military expenditure. Only 2 % of the Sudanese budget is spent on health care, while 48 % goes for military and police purposes, e.g. the purchase of Russian Mig 29 fighters, Mi 24 helicopter gunships and T 72 tanks.

What measures is the EU taking through the Council to influence the Sudanese government and the oil companies to halt this deliberate movement of population from the oil-rich areas? What is the EU doing to persuade countries not to sell expensive high-technology weaponry to the warring parties in Sudan?

Reply

(7 October 2003)

The EU is aware that the oil-rich Southern Sudan has been the region of fierce fighting between Government forces and the SPLA. Some escalation, as the Honourable Member of Parliament pointed out, had severe consequences for the population and impeded humanitarian access to the southern region. The EU expressed deep concern over these unacceptable situations and called for unrestricted, immediate and unlimited access by international aid agencies whenever the civilian population was directly or indirectly affected by the conflict. Furthermore, the EU recalled the humanitarian principle that civilian populations must be protected from the consequences of military operations and urged both parties to the conflict to put into effect immediately the December 1999 TCHA Agreement on Implementation of Principles Governing the Protection and Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to War Affected Civilians.

In the framework of the regular EU dialogue meetings with both the Government of the Sudan (GoS) and the SPLM/A, the EU emphasises that they have to comply with the basic principles of humanitarian and human rights.

Since the suspension of its cooperation with the Sudan in 1990 the EU has been limiting its assistance to humanitarian activities, emergency relief and food aid. In December 2000, the EU launched the so-called humanitarian plus programme which was designed to go beyond a strictly humanitarian approach and was also aimed at rehabilitation needs in the more stable areas of the North and South of Sudan.

Following the signature of the Machakos Agreement in July last year, the priority for the EU in its relations with the Sudan has been the promotion of a comprehensive peace settlement which would also be conducive to the improvement of the situation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and favour their return and resettlement in their region of origin.

The Council does not have any concrete information on the supply of expensive high-technology weaponry to the warring parties in the Sudan, but recalls that the Council decision of 15 March 1994 purposing an embargo on arms, ammunition and military equipment on the Sudan is still in force.