Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Deputy's approach to this matter because the question of whether it is genocide is academic. It is an appalling crime. I was there in July and was the first Minister from any country to visit Darfur since the peace agreement the previous May. What I saw in the Abu Shok displacement camp in Al-Fashir, Darfur, was hell on earth. Some 50,000 people there were living entirely on aid from NGOs and I saw in stark terms the difficulties facing people in the circumstances. They came from very fertile land but were driven away by the conflict.

I compliment the British Government and Prime Minister Blair on the move to propose an international conference. On the one hand it would put pressure on the Sudanese Government, while, on the other, it would indicate to the Sudanese that there are incentives to be had. The Deputy will acknowledge that this is not simply an issue of throwing in UN mandated forces from western powers, effectively adding white soldiers to the maelstrom. Some suggest that this would make Iraq look like a picnic. This issue must be handled in a sensitive way and Prime Minister Blair's proposal is welcome.

In principle, the Government has no problem being involved in or hosting such a conference. However, I have been to Sudan and met the Foreign Minister in recent weeks who is of a different party to the president. Sudanese Government decisions are made by the president. If a conference were to be held, it would have to be at heads of state level. At EU level we have supported the call by the British Government for a heads of state conference.

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