Reports of UN rights envoy to Sudan are biased – minister
Aug 24, 2006 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese minister Thursday has slammed the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Sudan who visited the country during ten days in this month, he said UN envoy reports are biased.
The Minister of Justice, Mohamed Ali Al-Mardi, said that the reports leveled by the UN Rapporteur of Human Rights in Sudan, Sima Samar, were biased against Sudan, contravening logic and violating all the agreed upon international customs in this field.
In a press conference held Thursday, the Minister of Justice said that Sima Samar has submitted deceptive reports targeting Sudan government and people, and reflecting erroneous messages to the international community.
Sudan’s special court for Darfur is not able to try Sudanese officials responsible for war crimes and authorities continue to abuse freedom of expression, a top U.N. rights official said on Thursday 17 August. Sima Samar, the U.N. special rapporteur on Sudan, also said after a 10-day visit to Sudan that intelligence services continue to carry out arbitrary arrests, detention and torture with impunity.
“Freedom of expression and association unfortunately continue to be abused by the national intelligence services or military intelligence,” she told reporters in Khartoum. She added arrests and torture have been documented in Khartoum, North Kordofan, and also in the remote Darfur region and the east, where emergency law is still in place.
He said that Sima Samar has violated the agreed upon customs and the programme set for her visit to Sudan when she went Daral-Salam town in Gezira State without informing any of the state’s organs.
He said that the UN Rapporteur for Human Rights has visited Daral-Salam town with the intention to claim that there were citizens who were displaced forcibly from their homes, adding that she neglected the fact that this step was conducted through a legal decree.
The minister said that Sima Samar has held a press conference on the peace developments in Sudan, but has never referred to the release of 23 persons who have relation with incidents in Darfur, despite the fact that she obtained a list including the names of the released persons.
He indicated that Sima Samar also intentionally neglected to refer to the implementation of Darfur peace agreement by the government and Sudan Liberation Movement and the appointment of movement’s leader, Meni Arko Menawi, as the Senior Assistant of the President of the Republic.
He said that Sima Samar intentionally refused to refer to the respect of the ceasefire by the parties which have signed Darfur peace agreement, adding that the Rapporteur of Human Rights in Sudan was aware about the violations of the cease-fire which were perpetrated by circles that refused to sign the peace agreement.
He said that the Rapporteur of Human Rights in Sudan did not forget to hold Sudan government responsible for the deteriorating conditions in Darfur and intended to neglect the courts’ decrees in despite the fact that she was handed a copy of these judgments before her press conference.
He said that Sima Samar has spoken about alleged ethnic cleansing in Darfur, in spite that the conflict in Darfur was one for resources, and has nothing to do with ethnics, adding that she made this claim in the context of a conspiracy for deployment of international forces in Darfur.
The Minister of Justice said that Sima Samar also visited Amri area in north Sudan without the knowledge or agreement of the government authorities with the aim to escalate the situation there.
The minister indicated that he acquainted the State Minister for Foreign Affairs with the violations of Sima Samar and called for informing the Office of the United Nations in Khartoum about her unlogic activity and violations of her mission in Sudan, besides informing the Chairman of the International Human Rights Committee about the incredibility of her reports.
(ST)
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