EU echoes African states in call for UN force

EU DEVELOPMENT ministers yesterday sent a strong appeal to the UN Security Council to set up immediately a "neutral force" to protect humanitarian operations in eastern Zaire.

The President of the Development Council and Minister of State for Development Aid, Ms Joan Burton, said: "The EU stands ready to play its part in a major humanitarian operation. But it needs a decision from the Security Council."

However, the appearance of EU unity was dented by an earlier diplomatic clash between Britain and France over Paris calls for urgent international military intervention in the troubled African region.

On her arrival in Brussels the British Overseas Development Minister, Baroness Chalker, responded angrily to claims by the French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette that the international community had been "spineless" in refusing to commit troops to the region. Lady Chalker described Mr De Charette's remark as "daft".

Despite her undiplomatic language, however, she later emerged from the talks insisting that the ministers had had a positive, good tempered meeting with no "slanging" over the question of military intervention.

Ms Burton is to travel tomorrow to Rwanda with the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Ms Emma Bonino, and other Troika ministers to assess the situation.

Ms Bonino echoed the call for "action within hours". She said the EU had supplies, "food, medicines, shelter, even transport and personnel, available in the region" and ready to be deployed tomorrow. "But the humanitarian agencies cannot act. We cannot allow aid workers to be taken hostage or supplies be looted."

Ms Burton said the priority now was the establishment of an immediate aid corridor, which would also allow refugees to return freely to their homes in Rwanda. The basis for immediate action had been laid by the African summit earlier in the week in Nairobi.

The EU's special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Mr Aldo Ajello, said "conditions were right for at least 900,000 Rwandan refugees to return to their country, although some might not choose to return and could not be forced to".

He said there had been considerable progress in persuading the Rwandan government to refrain from carrying out arbitrary arrests.

The critical need was for a return to be voluntary and for that to be possible the refugees needed to be protected from Hutu militia pressures.