Amnesty blames Khartoum for violence in western Sudan
CAIRO, Nov 27 (AFP) — Amnesty International said it had “compelling evidence” the Sudanese government was mainly to blame for the violence devastating western Sudan and warned the trouble could turn into a new civil war.
There is compelling evidence that the Sudanese government is largely responsible for the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Darfur in the western Sudan,” the London-based Amnesty said in a statement after its delegates returned from visiting refugee camps in neighboring Chad.
“The testimonies of scores of refugees describing attacks on rural communities by militias which included members of the (Sudanese) armed forces or other security forces has led us to the bleak conclusion that at least some elements in the army are encouraging this devastation,” it added.
Relief workers told AFP earlier this month that the Sudanese government had recruited nomadic Arab militias to help fight a rebellion that erupted in February over demands for economic development for the impoverished region.
The Arab tribesmen, who have traditionally clashed with pastoral African tribesmen, now appear to be out of control, they added.
The conflict has displaced around half a million people, including thousands of refugees who have fled to Chad, Amnesty said.
“The refugees are in an extremely vulnerable position. They have little or no food and difficult access to water, they live in precarious shelters and suffer badly from the cold at night,” Amnesty said.
“We heard how hungry refugees returned to their villages to search for food and were killed. There have also been cross border raids by militias,” it said.
“Refugee after refugee, in widely scattered areas, told how militias armed with Kalashnikovs and other weapons, including bazookas, often dressed in green army uniforms, raided villages, burnt houses and crops and killed people and cattle,” Amnesty said, quoting delegates.
There were also “allegations of abduction and rape” by the Arab militias, charges that government planes bombed villages, and that military security officials had tortured detainees, it said.
“The situation in Darfur is at risk of rapidly degenerating into a full-scale civil war,” it warned.
The violence in Darfur erupted as the Sudanese government has taken major strides toward ending its civil war with the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army in southern Sudan.
Amnesty called on the international community to apply the same pressure toward ending the crisis in Darfur as it has to end the war in southern Sudan.
It urged the Sudanese government to “take immediate action to protect civilians in Darfur from deliberate attacks by armed groups.”