Amnesty asks Arabs to take interest in Darfur

Sept 13, 2006 (CAIRO) — The head of human rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Arabs to evince the “same urgency and energy” in calling for the protection of civilians in Darfur as they have toward Lebanese and Palestinians.

“Arab public opinion needs to wake up to this issue,” Amnesty’s Secretary General Irene Khan said Tuesday night of the humanitarian crisis in western Sudan.

“They cannot be concerned about the human rights problems of Muslims and other groups in the (Palestinian) occupied territories and Lebanon and turn a blind eye or remain silent in the face of what’s happening to Muslims in Darfur.”

Khan spoke to The Associated Press in a telephone interview while visiting Cairo to meet Arab League chief Amr Moussa and Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials to urge them to use their influence with Sudan to support international efforts to protect civilians in Darfur.

The Sudanese government refuses to allow a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur where more than 200,000 people have been killed and over 2 million have fled their homes since 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government. Darfur’s population is largely Muslim.

Crises in Sudan, which is a member of the Arab League, have attracted less official and popular attention in the Arab world than the situations in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

Protests in the Arab world in July and August during fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel attracted thousands of people concerned for the welfare of Lebanese civilians.

Khan said the league “recognized the urgency and the gravity of the situation in Darfur” and supported the idea of beefing up the African Union peacekeeping mission.

Amnesty, along with other human rights organizations, has said the humanitarian situation in Darfur has deteriorated since May when the government and a rebel group signed a peace agreement.

The accord, which several rebel groups refused to endorse, has been used as an “instrument to cause more factionalism,” Khan said. Meanwhile, civilians are caught in the crossfire and new military operation has made conditions even more dangerous.

“The military offensive by the government in North Darfur is producing more displacement, more human rights abuses,” Khan said of the operation that began Aug. 28. In some instances it has meant that displaced “people are unable to move into camps.”

Referring to the Sudanese government’s request that African Union peacekeepers leave when their mandate expires Sept. 30 instead of joining a U.N. peacekeeping force envisioned by a Security Council resolution, Khan warned that “lawlessness” could increase at the end of the month.

“The government of Sudan itself has clearly shown it is unable and unwilling to protect the people, she said.

Asked to comment on accusations by the Sudanese justice minister last month that Amnesty, along with another human rights organization, had falsified reports on conditions in Darfur, Khan said that if officials believe that “they should open up Darfur even more to make it possible for journalists and others to verify the situation on the ground.”

The government has “become more difficult about granting visas to journalists or human rights groups,” she said.

Security Council resolution 1706, passed Aug. 31, calls for beefing up the 7,000-strong African Union mission to one made up of more than 20,000 troops under U.N. command.

Sudan did accept U.N. peacekeepers in the south under the January 2005 agreement that ended the civil war. Deployment of that force, now nearly 10,000-strong, began March 2005.

(AP/ST)