EU, Asia agree on Iran but no unity on Darfur and climate

(HAMBURG) - European foreign ministers Tuesday tried to forge a common approach with Asian nations to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear crises and the Darfur conflict ahead of next week's G8 summit.

They agreed to issue a collective call to Iran to comply with United Nations demands to halt sensitive nuclear enrichment work, according to a declaration due to be issued at the close of the Asia-EU Meeting (ASEM) in Hamburg.

But diplomats said the 27 European and 18 Asian nations were unlikely to send a similar signal to North Korea as an accord in which Pyongyang agreed to give up its arsenal hangs in the balance.

The meeting saw France launch a new drive to deploy an international force in Darfur to bring relief to a population battered by four years of fighting that has killed 200,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris was seeking international support to open a humanitarian corridor to the western Sudanese region through neighbouring Chad.

"It is only an idea so far, but it is worth it. It might work," Kouchner said after hour-long talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

China is an key ally of the Sudanese government and has been blocking US-led attempts at the UN Security Council to use sanctions to force President Omar al-Beshir to allow UN troops into Darfur.

Beshir has enlisted Arab militia in a scorched-earth campaign in Darfur after a rebellion broke out there in 2003 and refuses to allow the UN to send troops to help an overwhelmed African force deployed there.

Kouchner's proposal was welcomed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana but rapidly overshadowed by an announcement that the United States would introduce new sanctions against Sudan.

China immediately objected to Washington's move.

"These wilful sanctions and simply applying pressure is not conducive to solving the problem," Liu Guijin, China's special representative on the Darfur conflict, said in Beijing.

French diplomats would not immediately comment on the sanctions.

In Hamburg, European ministers also appeared to have failed to convince emerging nations like China and India to shoulder a bigger share of the burden of fighting climate change.

Germany is trying to win backing to issue a joint call at the G8 summit to cut global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said any new deal on fighting global warming was doomed to fail unless developing nations signed up.

She has invited both India and China to the Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm in June.

But Chinese Foreign Minister Yang reiterated here that China was not ready to agree to compromise its economic growth by accepting binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

A draft ASEM declaration on climate change spoke of "differentiated" levels of action in fighting the phenomenon.

The two-day Hamburg meeting has been marked by street protests as left-wing activists gear up for the G8 summit where 100,000 demonstrators are expected to protest.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticised the demonstrations which culminated on Monday in clashes between riot police and protestors.

"Why are there demonstrations against a conference at which Europeans and Asians are jointly paying attention to the different areas of conflict in the world?" he said.

Steinmeier said protestors had the right to demonstrate and question globalisation, "but in the current situation, we have a duty to try to resolve conflicts by working together."

ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting