Geldof adds voice to those urging EU to act immediately on crisis in Darfur

EU: Irish singer and activist Bob Geldof called on EU leaders gathering in Berlin yesterday to impose sanctions on Sudan's political…

EU:Irish singer and activist Bob Geldof called on EU leaders gathering in Berlin yesterday to impose sanctions on Sudan's political leaders and to act immediately to relieve the suffering of millions in Darfur.

Speaking in Berlin's Holocaust Museum, Geldof reiterated the demands voiced by leading European intellectuals, including Seamus Heaney, Jürgen Habermas and Harold Pinter, in an open letter to EU leaders at the weekend.

"We're the Greek chorus to what's happening this weekend," said Geldof, surrounded by a German Holocaust survivor and survivors of the genocide in Darfur, Rwanda and Bosnia.

"Europe sprang from the death of our civilisation, the Holocaust," he said. "The EU was born of the notion that this must stop and the notion of shared values. These values were betrayed again in Bosnia. Europe had a hand in the disgrace of Rwanda and now in Darfur."

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Darfur survivor Ishag Mekki, who lost family members in the violence that is gripping the province, said: "This is not an entertaining film, this is a crime against humanity and it is happening now.

"We need a no-fly zone to stop helicopter gunships shooting people who try to move around in search of food. If food aid doesn't reach you, you will die. It's a slow death every day."

More than 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced in four years of fighting in Darfur between rebels and a pro-government Arab militia accused of widespread atrocities against ethnic African civilians.

Sakiba Gurda, who witnessed rapes and mass killings when Serb forces marched through Bosnia in 1992, said things would have turned out differently had Europe given clear signals to Serbia that human rights violations are not tolerable. "I know Serbs involved in crimes who were shocked with what they were able to get away with."

Rwandan Philomène Uwamaliya survived the 1994 genocide there, but lost her father, three brothers and a sister. "People had good evidence of what was happening then; we have good evidence of what is happening today in Darfur," she said. "Why can we not stop what's happening?"

Geldof called for the EU to refuse entry to Sudanese political leaders, to ban the import of luxury goods to Sudan, and to implement a complete asset freeze. "We can do it. It doesn't cost us any money; there's no military budget involved. That would be a great gift to our shared values, which is the true Europe."