Darfur rebels kill, rape to enforce deal – Amnesty

Aug 1, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur rebels who signed a peace deal with the government killed and raped civilians to try to force them to support the unpopular accord, human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The African Union-brokered deal was signed in May by only one of three rebel factions — the Minni Arcua Minnawi group. Tens of thousands of Darfuris have protested against the deal, saying it does not meet their demands.

“Some 72 people were killed, 103 injured and 39 women raped in targeted attacks against civilians in the Korma region,” said Amnesty in a statement.

The attacks were at the beginning of July in Korma, about 70 km (45 miles) north west of el-Fasher, Darfur’s main town. Around 8,000 people fled their homes, emptying Korma.

“The attackers were members of the Minni Minnawi faction of the armed political group the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), reportedly supported by the Sudan armed forces and the Janjaweed,” London-based Amnesty said.

Since signing the deal, Minnawi’s troops have repeatedly been accused of imprisoning and torturing Darfuris who oppose it. Minnawi denies the reports.

But a U.N. helicopter in June airlifted elderly SLA official Suleiman Adam Jamous out of Minnawi’s stronghold in Darfur where he had been imprisoned for weeks. Jamous had opposed Minnawi’s leadership and the deal.

Amnesty further said a 7,000-strong AU force had not protected civilians and had not investigated the violence.

Some other rebel groups accuse the AU of losing its neutrality by housing Minnawi in their headquarters in el- Fasher, flying him in AU helicopters on demand around Darfur and allowing his troops to drive AU vehicles in el-Fasher town.

Amnesty said civilians had reported the attacks to the AU force on July 5, but the SLA had opposed the AU going to Korma. Only an AU outpost in nearby Tawila had gone to Korma but it had not issued its findings.

SLA officials were not immediately reachable and an AU spokesman was unable to immediately comment on the report.

Tens of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes during more than three years of conflict in Darfur.

(Reuters)

— 

Amnesty International Statement

July 31, 2006 — Between 4 and 8 July 2006, some 72 people were killed, 103 injured and 39 women raped in targeted attacks against civilians in the Korma region, 70 km north west of al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

This time, the attackers were members of the Minni Minawi faction of the armed political group the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), reportedly supported by the Sudan armed forces and the Janjawid.

The African Union force was not able to protect civilians.
The attacks were spread over five days, although the killings took place mostly on 5 and 6 July. Villages around Korma town were the first to be hit – they included the villages of Dalil, Hillat Hashab, Oste, Umm Kitaira, Diker, Talbonj, Magdum and Jafafil. One pupil was killed at a school in Dalil while ten other school pupils and a teacher were shot dead as they tried to escape. Seven women were killed in the assaults. Two people were abducted, one of them identified as Basha Adam Abaker from the village of Hillat Goz. Large numbers of livestock and possessions were looted. According to eyewitnesses, the villagers were not armed. Their attackers said they were being punished for opposing the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Korma town now lies practically emptied of its population. Most of the inhabitants of the region fled to camps for displaced people around al-Fasher, about 70 km away. Some of those on foot took four days to make the journey. The UN, which has investigated the attacks, estimates that some 8,000 civilians were forcibly displaced that week, as a result of these attacks and other fighting in North Darfur.

The Korma attacks show that, two years after the first UN Security Council resolution in July 2004 on Darfur and two months after the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006, grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law continue unabated in Darfur. These include unlawful killings, acts of torture, including rape, and abductions of civilians, and looting of civilian property.

The Korma attacks are also significant because:

The attackers were members of the SLA faction led by Minni Minawi, known as SLA (MM), who were reportedly supported by the Sudan armed forces and the Janjawid travelling in more than 20 armed vehicles. Some of the vehicles were said to come from al-Fasher, the government-controlled capital of North Darfur state. The SLA (MM) faction is a signatory, with the Sudan government, to the Darfur Peace Agreement of May 2006. In recent weeks the SLA (MM) has attacked the bases, such as the Korma area, in North Darfur of other SLA factions (Abdel Wahed and Group of 19) that have refused to sign the agreement. Those against the agreement argue that it does not give enough guarantees for the disarmament of government militia and does not adequately address compensation for victims of human rights violations.

The ferocity of the killing and looting have led local people to call the SLA (MM) attackers “Janjawid 2” after the notorious government-funded Janjawid militia who have killed, raped and driven from their homes some two million people in Darfur in the past three years.

The African Union peacekeeping force in al-Fasher (African Union Mission in Sudan, AMIS) has not only been unable to protect civilians in Korma, but has yet to investigate the killings. Civilians reported the attacks to AMIS on 5 July, but the SLA (MM) reportedly opposed AMIS going to Korma. Only an AMIS outpost in Tawila went to Korma but it has not issued its findings. Those who signed the Darfur Peace Agreement refuse to include in the Ceasefire Commission the parties who have not signed, further hampering AMIS’ work. Because of its failure to protect civilians in Darfur, many of the local inhabitants have lost faith in AMIS.

The victims of Korma have a name

The men, women and children killed in the Korma region of Darfur between 4 and 8 July 2006 include the following 71 individuals, 11 of them school students and all male except the seven women identified below:

1 Abdal Samad Ahmed Mohamed, school pupil, Dalil
2 Adam Mohamed Adam, school, pupil Dalil
3 Musa Abdalla Musa, school, pupil Dalil
4 Mohamed Osman, Dalil
5 Addoma Adam Abdallah , Dalil
6 Abdo Musa Abdal Samad, Dalil
7 Abdallah Abdalrahman, Dalil
8 Adal Hakam Siddiq Mohamed, Dalil
9 Mubarak Mohamed Ismail, Dalil
10 Abdalla Ahmed Mohamed, Dalil
11 Salah Adam Hasan, Dalil
12 Abbakar Ahmed Mohamed, Dalil
13 Mohamed Mustafa, Dalil
14 Daggash Hamid Fadel, Dalil
15 Isa Abdalla Abbakar, school pupil, Dalil
16 Abdelrahman Omer Baraka, Dalil
17 Al-Hadi Mohammed al-Zein, Dalil
18 Adam Abdel Rahman, Dalil
19 Mohamed Abaker Omer, Dalil
20 Osman Saleh Ibrahim, Dalil
21 Ismail Omar Mohamed Baraka, Dalil
22 Mudawi Adam Ali, school pupil, Dalil
23 Abdu Abdel Rahman Hamid, Dalil
24 Idris Adam, school pupil, Dalil
25 Abdallah Mohamed Omar Baraka , Dekair
26 Hamid Ishaq, school pupil, Hillat Hashab
27 Ishaq Adam Haroun, Hillat Hashab
28 Mohamed Ahmed, Hillat Hashab
29 Abdalla Osman school, pupil, Hillat Hashab
30 Mohamed Suleiman Bakr, Jadida
31 Adam Fadel Hamid, school pupil, Jafafil
32 Adam Khalil Hamid, Jafafil
33 Alfadil Ibrahim Mahmoud, school pupil, Oste
34 Ali Mohamed Ahmed, school pupil, Oste
35 Al-Fadul Adam Terab, Talbonj
36 Ismail Abdalla Mohamed, school pupil
37 Khadija Abaker Musa, woman
38 Maryama Hassan Omar, woman
39 Hawa Mohamed Ali, woman
40 Fatima Abaker Ishaq, woman
41 Khadija Mohamed Ahmad, woman
42 Kaltoum Adam Ahmad, woman
43 Khadija Mohamed Al, woman
44 Hafiz Mohamed Husain
45 Adam Mohamed Ismail
46 Mohamed Abakar Mohamed
47 Ahmed Mohamed Hasan
48 Adam Osman Ibrahim.
49 Adam Osman
50 Ayub Abakar Mohamed
51 Abdalla Karan
52 Sharif Harun
53 Alfadil Yaqub Terab
54 Nureddin Mohamed Ahmed
55 Abdel Aziz Abakar Jzuli
56 Mohamed Abdel Rahman Annair
57 Direg Adam Tibin
58 Salah Adam Tibin
59 Alhadi Abu Tutu
60 Mhajoub Mohamed Abbakar
61 Abdalrahman Omer
62 Adduma Adam Tibin
63 Attaib Adam Ahmed Iraygat
64 Mohamed Abdalla Adam
65 Assadiq
66 Adam Abu Zud
67 Abu Bakar Ibrahim Haroun
68 Ibrahim Annur Abdalla
69 Younis Omer Abakar
70 Abaker Ahmad Mohamed
71 Abu Bakar Ibrahim Mohamed