Agata Hinc, AfricaNews reporter in Warsaw, Poland

We can conclude from latest official statements of German, French and the UK's leaders that in a really short period of time we can stop calling the attempts to create a 'trio' (made from three EU biggest members) unsuccessful. We can hear few voices in favor of harmonization and greater cooperation on EU matters within German-French-UK's relations.
There are also lots of similarities in Angela Merkel’s, Nicolas Sarkozy’s and Gordon Brown’s views on the EU external relations. One of the examples can be their opinion about situation in Darfur and the actions that should be taken.

Experts claim that the French President wants his nation back on the diplomatic map and that now it is the political moment to make his desire come true. Sarkozy tries to be present and active in every greater crisis these days. He absolutely advocates the AU/UN efforts. The French President underlines the importance of determined and fast actions, which should be taken to overcome humanitarian crisis in Western Sudan. "We really must redouble our efforts," says Sarkozy. "As human beings, and as politicians, we must resolve the crisis in Darfur," he adds.

The British Prime Minister has made Darfur his foreign policy priority. The UN resolution was an initiative he promoted in tandem with the French president. He underscored the UK's position that a new United Nations Security Council resolution was needed quickly and we can say he scored a dramatic first foreign policy victory when the UN security council voted to deploy a 26,000-strong international force to Darfur. It wasn’t his own victory of course. He was and still is supported by President Sarkozy, with whom he is planning to create “new and fresh” European police strategy. Mr. Brown calls for urgent action. "It is one of the great humanitarian disasters of our generation and it is happening as we speak," said Prime Minister and he added that it is high time for whole word to act.

After their meeting in the Elysée Palace on 31st of August, French President and British Prime Minister announced a new diplomatic and economic initiative to try to stop the civil war in Sudan. They also declared they would go to Khartoum, Darfur and Chad to see if the initiative works. They called Sudanese government to cooperate with the United Nations and to do whatever is needed to stop African society extermination. Brown and Sarkozy warned that tougher sanctions would be imposed if Khartoum failed to act. Its quite sure we will be able to see those sanctions because, as the Amnesty International informs, the Sudanese government already failed – it didn’t stop sending weapons to Darfur region. We can easily imagine it’s not the first nor the last time when Sudan breaches a promise.

The fact that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is not standing next to Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Brown during their meetings, doesn’t mean she doest act in Darfur’s case. Her country currently chairs the G-8, which means she has an extra trump card to persuade other important actors on the international stage to work together in the most important affairs, one of which is crisis in Darfur. In her last trip to China, Angela Merkel pressed President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao for help in stopping human rights violations in afflicted by civil war Sudanese region. China already lobbed Sudan to accept UN peacekeeping force after resisting some calls of intervention from Europe.

German Chancellor had said in her statement, before the business trip, that “China has very close ties with Africa” and that she would obviously talk with China leaders about what they can do now “to combat the appalling human rights violations in Sudan’s Darfur region.” The first problem, they had to talk about, was to put a pressure on Sudanese government to respect the UN Security Council decisions and to start a dialog with international organizations. Sudan accuses the European Union envoys of interfering in the nation’s interior affairs and therefore they are being expelled from Sudanese territory. It would be much more easy for Angela Merkel to change this situation if Chinese authorities supported her.

What else can be done?

There are a lot of things, which have to be done and things, that have to be changed. We had an opportunity to see some of them during Ban Ki-Moon’s last visit to Darfur. "I appeal to the government of Sudan and to all parties to refrain from military action and choose(...) the path of peace and political dialogue," said UN Secretary General at one of his speeches. Going to Darfur was a perfect decision, although the trip didn’t proceed without difficulties. Ban Ki-Moon was close to announcing a date and venue for talks between Khartoum and some eight rebel groups and then a problem appeared. The leader of the largest from this groups has told he would not attend while the conflict continues.

From one side, during his trip Secretary General was cheered by inhabitants of a refugee camp, but from the other he faced a group of protesters at the UN's compound. The Secretary General assured Darfur’s inhabitants of the intention of sending 26,000 AU/UN troops, what induced further questions.

Where so many African troops would come from? Who will be a part of this peacekeeping forces? "It's not simply a question of raw numbers of troops – we’re trying to find a good mix of skills," underlines Farhan Haq, UN spokesman. Another problem is that not every Darfur inhabitant is in favor of Sudan-United Nations cooperation. Attacks against humanitarians are not rare, what complicates the situation.

There are more than 12,000 aid workers in Darfur and according to a recent UN report twelve of them were killed across the region in 2006 and other five since the beginning of this year. Paul Barker, Sudan country director for CARE, diagnosis: ”There are far too many guns in Darfur and people will not feel fully safe to return to their former villages until they see fewer guns in circulation.”

What European leaders can do?

At first Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown should follow Ban Ki-Moon in what he did. They speak in one voice in this matter already, which is much. They should go now to Sudan to talk to Omar al-Bashir (President of Sudan) and to show to the frightened people that there is somebody who is ready to fight for them. They should hold on together in convincing Sudanese citizens that they can live in a different way and that Europeans can help.

The “trio” should involve the European Union in creating the peacekeeping forces – the EU experts can be very useful. Chancellor of Germany, Prime Minister of Great Britain and President of France should be strict and penalize government of Sudan every time it breaks the agreement. With a support of the UE, the USA and China, the European “trio” can do a lot not only for Darfur, but for themselves and the UE strength and position in the contemporary international relations, too.