UN using fabricated reports of Darfur rights abuses – Sudan
Oct 5, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — Sudan’s U.N. ambassador accused the United Nations on Friday of relying on fabricated data from non-governmental groups in reporting widespread rights abuses in Darfur, though he acknowledged that violations have occurred in the region.
The ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem, was largely dismissive of a report that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday saying that Sudan’s armed forces, as well as rebel factions and militias, continue to violate international human rights laws with impunity.
The report said violence was on the rise and humanitarian access in Darfur was at its worst since 2004.
“These reports are not new. Many of these reports are fabricated by some (non-governmental organizations) whose intentions are very clear to us,” Abdalhaleem said.
“I can assure you that of course in any conflict situation … you have violations of human rights,” he said. “It is very bad, this is why we would like to have it over.”
The United Nations denied the ambassador’s claims. Oliver Ulich, the Sudan team leader in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the United Nations has about 1,500 staffers in Darfur as well as dozens of human rights officers whom it relies upon for information.
He said the U.N. does receive some information from non-governmental groups but believes it is “highly reliable.”
“We double- and triple-check reports coming from a variety of sources and have a very high degree of confidence in the reliability of the information that we provide to the Security Council,” Ulich said.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in three years of fighting between the government and rebels in Darfur. The violence has continued despite the presence of an African Union peacekeeping force meant to monitor a May peace deal, which has yet to be implemented.
“It has now been three months since the Darfur peace agreement was signed,” Annan wrote in his report. “However, instead of reconciliation and building of trust, we are witnessing intensified violence and deeper polarization. The region is again on the brink of a catastrophic situation.”
Sudan has so far refused to allow the United Nations to take over the peacekeeping mission from the AU, despite the insistence of the Security Council. However, President Omar al-Bashir sent a letter to Annan on Thursday reiterating his stance that he would consent to the U.N. providing support to the AU mission, as U.N. officials have also proposed.
Annan’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement Friday the secretary-general hopes the U.N. advisers could be quickly sent to the region.
That letter was separate from another note that Sudan sent to nations that may offer troops for a future U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. It warned that they would be committing a “hostile act” if they promise troops for that mission.
The United States said Friday that Sudan had withdrawn the letter, though Abdalhaleem was more ambiguous. He insisted Sudan wants to avoid confrontation, but would not allow any troops into the country without the government’s consent.
“Everybody has to draw his own conclusions about this, but our intention has never been to intimidate anybody and has never been to threaten anybody,” he said.
(AP/ST)