By Xinhua
Heiligendamm : Leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized nations Friday urged the Sudanese government to accept an international peace mission to solve the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region.
"If the government of Sudan or the rebel movements continue to fail to meet their obligations, we will support appropriate action in the Security Council", said a joint statement issued by the G8 leaders.
The leaders underlined that "there is no military solution" to the conflict in Darfur, but Sudan should accept the joint peace mission by the UN and the African Union (AU) as soon as possible.
The leaders urged the Sudanese government to take the opportunity of a visit to Khartoum by a UN Security Council team, planned for June 17, to "express its full acceptance" of the so called 'Hybrid Operation'.
Earlier in the day, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon urged Sudan to accept the international peace mission to create an enabling environment for negotiations and humanitarian access.
The US imposed fresh sanctions on Sudan last May in response to the violence in Darfur. Sudan has rejected the sanctions.
Khartoum is under mounting pressure to approve the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur. It has accepted the first two phases of a UN peacekeeping plan, but has stalled the third phase to create a much larger UN-AU hybrid force.
Thousands of civilians in Darfur have been killed or displaced following tribal clashes and an anti-government rebellion in February 2003.