LISBON - European and African parliament members told their leaders on Friday they would be ignoring the plight of thousands of civilians if they failed to tackle the crisis in Sudan's Darfur at a weekend summit in Portugal.
The appeal by 40 parliamentarians was joined by 50 European and African human rights groups. They said in a separate letter that not acting on the crisis would mean turning "our back on the people of Darfur", where 200,000 people have been killed.
The U.N. Security Council approved in July a U.N.-African Union peace mission of 26,000 soldiers and police for Darfur. But U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno has cast doubt on the mission due to restrictions imposed by Sudan.
"MPs, campaigners and human rights activists are all asking the same question: how can our leaders ignore one of the world's worst crises?" asked Glenys Kinnock, a member of the European Parliament.
"Especially when (Sudanese) President (Omar Hassan al-) Bashir, the man primarily responsible for so much of the suffering, is in their midst," she said in a statement.
The EU-Africa summit, the first in seven years, formally takes place on Saturday and Sunday but the more than 70 EU and African leaders began arriving for a banquet on Friday evening.
The EU has come under fire from human rights activists for allowing Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to attend.
Mugabe, who arrived in Lisbon late on Thursday, is accused by the West of rigging elections and suppressing opposition but is seen by African leaders as an independence hero and many said they would not attend if he was not invited.
Previous attempts to hold the summit have failed over Mugabe's attendance but this time the EU, mindful of growing Chinese influence in Africa, decided to hold the summit and invite Mugabe.
