AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers meet Monday for talks set to be dominated to the spiralling violence in the Middle East, but also to discuss Iran's nuclear programme and the peacekeeping mission in Sudan.
Amid disagreement at the United Nations and leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial powers, meeting in Russia, the ministers are expected to reiterate calls for restraint rather than push all out for a ceasefire.
With the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and the Palestinians so fast-moving, EU ambassadors are set to meet earlier to try to thrash out a common position for the ministers' talks, which start in Brussels at 0800 GMT.
Events in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories are likely to take up most of their working lunch, during which EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to brief them about his solidarity mission to Beirut on Sunday.
Solana will also give an update on his contacts with Iran and talks between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on an offer of political and economic incentives for Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.
The six world powers have said they would return to the Security Council as Iran drags its feet on responding to the international package, which as a precondition would oblige the Islamic republic to suspend uranium enrichment.
The ministers are expected to reaffirm the EU's commitment to building long-term ties with Tehran based on “confidence and cooperation” and are likely to express concern about the deterioration of human rights in Iran.
Turning to Sudan, the 25-member bloc will discuss the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS); a peacekeeping operation in the troubled Darfur region which could run out of money as soon as next month.
The meeting comes on the eve of a major international conference in Brussels, when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is to lead an effort to find funds for the cash-strapped contingent.
The conflict in Darfur, a desert region the size of France, between rebels and militias backed by Sudanese government troops has left some 300,000 people dead and displaced more than two million others since 2003.
African Union countries sent troops there in 2004 — the force now numbers around 7,000 personnel — but the mission has suffered from poor funding and has struggled to contain the violence.
In the afternoon Monday a troika of EU officials will meet with Serbian representatives, including Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
He is due to present an “action plan” to demonstrate that Belgrade is fully cooperating with the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
The EU has frozen talks on closer ties with Serbia because the authorities there failed to hand over Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military leader indicted by the court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A similar troika meeting with Bosnia is also scheduled.
