Row deepens over Sudan atrocities.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Row deepens over Sudan atrocities.
12
Fri, 04-23-2004 - 9:57am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652521.stm


A controversial debate at the United Nations Human Rights Commission is due to resume over abuses in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.


There has been an outcry over a leaked UN report which describes the actions of government-backed militias against non-Arabs as "crimes against humanity".

The report's release was delayed amid efforts to water down a resolution.

A UN mission is due to travel to Darfur later on Friday to investigate allegations of atrocities there.


The UN says more than 10,000 people have been killed and over one million displaced over the past year as a result of conflict in Darfur.

Rift

Two separate resolutions are being considered by the 53-member Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.







Map of Sudan



A draft resolution by the European Union refers to "the grave violation of human rights", including "the widespread recourse to rape and other forms of sexual violence, including against children, as a means of warfare."

The proposal urges an end to the violence and the appointment of a special UN expert to monitor the situation.

But a more softly-worded statement on Sudan has been proposed on Thursday by the chairperson, which drew condemnation from United States and human rights groups.

"Ten years from today the only thing that will be remembered about the 60th Commission on Human Rights is whether we stand up on the ethnic cleansing going on in Sudan," US delegation head Richard Williamson told AFP news agency.


Report

Human rights campaigners expressed outrage on Thursday that the leaked United Nations report was being withheld from the UN debate.

The report, seen by the BBC, details claims of rape, looting and killing by militias with government help.

The report says the atrocities in Darfur "may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity".

It was compiled by a UN team of experts who visited Chad to speak to refugees from the conflict.

The report has been delayed until they complete their investigation, but human rights groups are accusing Sudan of a ploy to prevent evidence of atrocities coming under discussion.

Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch told BBC News Online: "The Sudanese government is playing games with the international community, trying to delay the day of reckoning and prevent any systematic monitoring of its atrocities in Darfur."

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes says the fact that the commission will not see the UN report is another blow to its credibility, after claims that it has bowed to political pressure from member states.

The UN secretary general himself has talked of his sense of forboding over the situation in Darfur, drawing parallels with the situation before the Rwandan genocide.


Talks

Meanwhile, talks aimed at ending the fighting are reported to have made little progress.

One of the rebel groups involved in the negotiations, the Justice and Equality Movement, has accused the Sudanese government of trying to disrupt the talks by continuing attacks on civilians in Darfur.

The other rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Movement, says the government and its allies have killed 160 civilians since a ceasefire was declared two weeks ago.

A BBC correspondent at the talks in neighbouring Chad says that as the negotiations falter, the humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating further, and those fleeing the fighting are continuing to cross the border to Chad.

cl-Libraone~

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-16-2004
Mon, 08-02-2004 - 4:35am
It is quite unfortunate that the government of Sudan is aware of the ethnic cleansing and vehimently refuce to do anything to help the situation. The Government is aware that more than one million people are displaced, It is very sad. It is a delibrate act by the goverment, it is clearly seen that the Arab malitia men are been sponsored by the the government.

African is fast becoming a den for terrorism and can not dismiss the fact that some al-qeeda members are not part of the nucleaus of the assult in Dafur. Conscription is going on every day with the Arab Circle and the funding should also be tracked down by all the Militia mosque, more especially in the Arab world.

This is the right time for the US, who had taken the cause of fighting terrorism to assist the AU forces with good fire power to enable them crunch the Arab malitia men and also make African a safer place. With the endemic nature of AIDS in Africa coupled with the fact that terrorism is finding its way in, in the nearest future, African population will reduced drastically.

Over to you Bush and Tony blair (Trailblaser), I do have confidence in you all.

God bless.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 08-02-2004 - 8:12am

Hi Alisule!



 


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