EU Foreign Ministers to Meet Friday over Iraq as UK Says Plan 'Under Way' to Rescue Mountain Refugees
European Union foreign ministers are to meet on Friday to discuss the crisis in Iraq, the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, after key member states called for bolder action to help the country's civilians.
In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Ashton said the extraordinary meeting would "focus on the EU's response to major ongoing crises, focusing on Iraq and Ukraine."
The ministerial talks follows a meeting of EU ambassadors on Tuesday in which member states began to coordinate ways to help an Iraqi government under siege by Islamic State fighters who control much of the country.
France and Italy have for days been calling for such a meeting to respond to Iraqi Kurd appeals for weapons in the face of a jihadist onslaught in northern Iraq.
Some countries are reluctant to provide weapons to a conflict zone on principle, but in what one EU source called a major breakthrough, none of the the bloc's envoys present on Tuesday voiced opposition to the call for arms by France, Italy and Britain.
Following in the UK's footsteps, President Francois Hollande on Wednesday said France would provide weapons to Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State militants.
Britain had said it would transport military supplies to Kurdish forces battling the militants amid Western fears the crisis could spread throughout the region.
The envoy meeting on Tuesday was set up in an effort to better coordinate the response by member states to a crisis the EU's executive called the world's most pressing emergency.
The ambassadors unanimously agreed on the need for urgent and increased humanitarian support but fell short of convening foreign ministers, who have the authority to engage major coordinated action by bloc countries.
On Wednesday, the European Commission boosted aid to Iraq to 17 million euros ($23 million), but said the real challenge was access to besieged civilians not the lack of humanitarian funding.
The U.S., which has been carrying out air strikes against jihadist positions, said on Wednesday it was assessing rescue options for the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped on Mount Sinjar while the UN warned of "potential genocide".
In a related matter, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that an international plan is under way to rescue civilians trapped by IS fighters on a mountain in northern Iraq.
Cameron declined to give details of the operation but said Britain would play a role, just as it had worked alongside the United States in conducting humanitarian aid drops to thousands of Yazidis and other minorities who have fled to Mount Sinjar.
"Clearly there is an absolutely desperate situation in Iraq, particularly on this mountainside," Cameron said after chairing a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee.
"I'm proud of the fact that British aeroplanes and British aid have been playing a role and will continue to play a role to help these people.
"But we need a plan to get these people off that mountain and get them to a place of safety.
"I can confirm that detailed plans are now being put in place and are underway and that Britain will play a role in delivering them."
Britain has sent Tornado fighter jets to Cyprus to be ready if needed to provide surveillance support for the aid effort, while two Chinook helicopters are also on standby to help with the humanitarian operation.
London also said Tuesday it would transport weapons from other states to Kurdish forces battling IS militants, although it is not providing the military equipment.
"What they want is ammunition and weapons like they have been using and that's what's being delivered to them, and Britain is playing a role in helping to make sure that happens," Cameron said.
The prime minister, who returned from holiday in Portugal a day early on Wednesday, also dismissed calls for parliament to be recalled from its summer recess to discuss the crisis.
There is growing pressure for Britain to join the U.S. in conducting airstrikes.
"This is a humanitarian operation that Britain is involved in so I don't think it's necessary to recall parliament for that," he said.
"But of course I always keep this issue under review and were things to change then obviously that's something that could be done."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday that Washington was urgently assessing how to move the civilians off the mountain in northern Iraq.
Source: Agence France Presse
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