Sudan facing new charges of massacre in Darfur – report
Mar 18, 2006 (ELFASHIR) — Sudanese government forces massacred their own citizens in a mosque in Darfur, according to fresh evidence presented by the African Union, The Scotsman reported.
The AU, which is attempting to keep the peace in the devastated region, sent monitors to the town of Tawilla to investigate reports of a massacre last September.
A confidential AU report, obtained by The Scotsman, reveals that four people were killed and 24 injured.
It came to light as human rights organisations criticised the Sudanese government for its continued attempts to prevent the United Nations from taking over the peacekeeping role in Darfur, where upwards of 400,000 people are believed to have been killed in genocidal attacks.
New evidence of those attacks is apparent in the AU’s reports. One details an attack in September last year in Tawilla in which Sudanese government forces had used “heavy and light weapons against an unarmed crowd of civilians”.
The report added that the police then embarked on “a wanton destruction of properties, leaving 30 houses and market stalls burnt down” in a clear violation of peace accords signed by the government.
The AU said 30 heavily armed police soldiers opened fire on unarmed and innocent civilians who went to the mosque for afternoon prayers.
The report was signed off by a Sudanese colonel, but only after he had recorded his view that the incident was precipitated by an attack on police by Sudanese rebels carrying grenades in the mosque. The AU noted that a number of police were injured by a grenade.
Witnesses described how the police fired into the mosque using heavy weapons.
(Scotsman/ST)