TIMESONLINE: High on personal triumph from the European summit, President Sarkozy offered French leadership yesterday to resolve the conflict in Darfur.
“Silence is killing,” Mr Sarkozy told an international conference in Paris attended by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and Chinese and other international officials. French troops are expected to be the largest contingent in a new
UNAfrican force to bring relief to the western Sudan territory where 200,000 have been killed in ethnic violence since 2003.
Unlike President Chirac, who took little interest in Darfur, Mr Sarkozy has made the crisis a priority. His Darfur push, promoted by Bernard Kouchner, the outspoken rights activist who is his Foreign Minister, is one of a whirlwind of initiatives that are dazzling the new President’s admirers and stirring unease among critics.
“If he carries on at this rate Sarkozy will quickly become the new Sun King, or he will burn up in a year or two,” said le Midi Libre. The Mediterranean newspaper was reacting to a streak of frenetic activity by the reformist “hyper-President” who is drawing comparisons with King Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Sarkozy the ‘Sun King’ takes lead to aid Darfur (more) By Charles Bremner
Mark Alexander
