U.N. investigator says she saw “indications of crimes against humanity” in W. Sudan

UNITED NATIONS, June 30, 2004 (AP) — A U.N. human rights investigator said she saw “strong indications of crimes against humanity” during a 13-day visit to the Darfur region of western Sudan and called for the international community to investigate exactly what happened.

Asma Jahangir, the U.N. investigator on executions, told a news conference that only by cataloguing what has happened in the Darfur region since fighting broke out early last year can a determination be made of who was responsible and the scope of the killings.

The United Nations has described the 15-month conflict in Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 2 million people in need of food and 1 million forced to flee their homes.

The United States says between 10,000 and 30,000 Sudanese have been killed in fighting between Arab militias backed by the government and the black African population. The government denies it is supporting the militias.

During her visit from June 1-13, Jahangir said she found “absolutely clear indications” that Arab militias were protected by the Sudanese government. She said the number of black Africans killed by Arab militas is “bound to be staggering.”

“I see strong indications of crimes against humanity,” she said, but she wouldn’t go further because of the lack of detailed information on the conflict.

Jahangir said “the culture of impunity has to end” and those who ordered, planned, and carried out the killings must be brought to justice.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to arrive in Sudan on Wednesday to see the situation in Darfur first-hand. He was tol team up with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Khartoum on Wednesday to pressure the government to stop the fighting, disarm the militias, and remove the obstacles to the flow of humanitarian aid into the country.