European Union leaders threatened to target authorities in Zimbabwe and Sudan with more sanctions Friday, but there was little indication that the growing international indignation would bring an early end to the violence gripping both African nations.
An EU summit demanded an end to violence in Zimbabwe where there are reports of a wave of attacks on opponents of President Robert Mugabe, who faces a run off election to stay in power next week.
"Mugabe's increasingly desperate and isolated regime has unleashed still more violence," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a news conference. "This is a brazen and obscene abuse of power by a criminal cabal."
The 27 EU leaders threatened Sudan with sanctions if it does not cooperate fully with the United Nations and the International Criminal Court by handing over Darfur war crimes suspects.
Sudan does not recognize the Hague-based court and has refused to hand over a government minister accused of atrocities and a militia leader facing charges of murder, rape and forced expulsions in the Darfur region, where a long, bloody conflict has killed more than 200,000 people.
The leaders warned of "additional measures" against both countries _ meaning sanctions.
Diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said the EU was considering widening existing lists of officials from both countries subject to an asset freeze and ban on travel ban to EU nations.
European Union nations already have in place an arms embargo against Zimbabwe, in addition to a suspension of development aid and an assets freeze and travel ban against Mugabe and 125 other top government officials introduced in 2002 over human rights violations.
Sudan also has an EU arms embargo and several Sudanese officials are subject to similar banking and travel restraints in Europe since 2005.
However, the sanctions have been criticized as ineffectual. Mugabe has been allowed to travel to Europe to attend international conferences, most recently a U.N. food summit in Rome this month. There is little sign that the sanctions have curbed violence in either country.
The EU has resisted calls from the U.S. for wider economic sanctions against Sudan over violence in the western province of Darfur. EU officials say they could hurt local people and undermine efforts to negotiate a solution. They also say sanctions could be ineffective since Sudan has increasingly developed economic ties with China and other Asian nations less critical of its human rights record.
Ali Sadiq, Sudan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the country has survived similar measures by other countries for more than a decade. He said his country would not cooperate with the International Criminal Court because it was serving the interests of Sudan's enemies.
"We are not part of the ICC ... and we are not going to be subjected to its rulings," Sadiq told The Associated Press on Friday in Khartoum.
In Zimbabwe, the EU called for the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to "deploy a significant number of election monitors as soon as possible and to ensure their continued presence until the electoral process is completed and results officially declared," the text says.
Mugabe has sought to restrict the presence of international observers before the June 27 election where he faces a run off against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose Movement for Democratic Change says more than 60 of its activists have been killed in recent weeks.
Tsvangirai's party has had rallies banned and campaign stops blocked by police. It has had little access to state media and the party's deputy leader has been arrested.
Fighting between breakaway tribes in Darfur and Sudan's Arab-dominated government erupted in 2003 and has killed more than 200,000 people. Sudan's government denies Western charges it unleashing a militia of Arab nomads against civilians.
The EU has sent 3,700 troops to help protect 300,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad and the Central African Republic.
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Associated Press Writers Constant Brand in Brussels and Sarah El Deeb in Khartoum contributed to this report.
