SPLM Secretary General accuses Khartoum of genocide in Darfur

July 28, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A senior official with Sudan’s former southern rebels has accused Khartoum of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the troubled region of Darfur, local press reported on Saturday.

Pagan Amun of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which joined a national unity government after a 2005 peace deal, was speaking on the second anniversary of the death of SPLM leader John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash in Uganda two years ago.

“The government has committed crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and armed tribes against each other in Darfur,” Amun said in comments reported in several papers, including the Al-Sahafa independent daily.

His remarks come a day after the UN’s Human Rights Committee (HRC) officially condemned “ethnic cleansing” in Darfur and sharply rebuked Sudan’s government for failing to prosecute militias involved in the killings.

In a report, it said that “widespread and systematic serious human rights violations, including murder, rape, forced displacement and attacks against the civil population, have been and continue to be committed with total impunity throughout Sudan and particularly in Darfur.”

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then enlisted the Janjaweed militia to help crush the rebellion.

According to UN estimates, at least 200 000 people have died from the combined effect of war and famine since the conflict started. Other sources give a much higher toll, but Khartoum disputes the figures.

(AFP)