September 2, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan is expecting the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to end its mandate on the country after the “progress” achieved in the domestic rights situation, an official said on Sunday, one day after Khartoum ceded candidacy for a seat on the UNHRC following an outcry by rights groups.

UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

The secretary of organizations at Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Adil Awad, told reporters in the capital Khartoum that they expect the next UNHRC session to terminate the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan after what the official described as the progress witnessed in the domestic rights situation.

Awad made his statement ahead of a meeting by the NCP’s political sector to discuss the situation of human rights in the country and Sudan’s preparations for the UNHRC 21st regular session which is due to be held from 10 to 28 September.

He said that the meeting, which was already held on Sunday evening under the chairmanship of second Vice-President Al-Haj Adam Youssef, would discuss the latest Sudan report of the former UNHRC independent expert Mohamed Chande Othman who was replaced by the Nigerian Mashood Baderin in March this year.

Chande’s report expressed alarm at the precarious situation of human rights in the western region of Darfur. His predecessor Baderin said during his first visit to the country in June this year that Sudanese authorities did not give him permission to visit the troubled region.

Sudan renewed hopes for termination of the independent expert mandate follows the country’s withdrawal on Friday of its candidacy to win a seat on the UNHRC following a wave of indignation by rights groups against the background of the country’s human rights record and the fact that a number of its leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed in Darfur.

(ST)