Darfur rebels release six aid workers

KHARTOUM, July 13, 2005 (Xinhua) — The United Nations Advanced Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) announced here Wednesday that the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in western region of Darfur released six of 10 aid workers it captured.

Aid workers from the Sudanese Red Crescent.

At a press conference, Spokesman of UNAMIS George Somerwill described the release of the six Sudanese humanitarian workers as a “positive” action.

He urged the SLM, one of the two main rebel groups in Darfur, to release the rest four aid workers.

Somerwill said the UNAMIS was keeping contacts with the rebel leaders to secure the release of the four.

The spokesman also denied recent media reports that head of UNAMIS Jan Pronk had said the Sudanese special court for Darfur crimes would replace the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to prosecute war crime suspects in Darfur.

Somerwill termed the reports “invalid”, saying the ICC would continue its investigations in alleged violations of human rights in the war-torn region.

Rebels took up arms in Sudan’s arid and impoverished western region of Darfur in February 2003, accusing the government of neglect.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million fled their homes as a result of over two years of violence.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1593 in March, demanding war crime suspects in Darfur be referred to the ICC.

The Sudanese government rejected the resolution, saying it violates its sovereignty.

The government set up a special criminal court in June to try perpetrators of war crimes in Darfur.