Sudan blocking UN rights mission to Darfur – diplomats

Feb 8, 2007 (GENEVA) — Sudan is blocking a fact-finding mission by the United Nations Human Rights Council to the strife-torn region of Darfur by not yet issuing visas to members of the delegation, France’s mission to the UN in Geneva said.

“France regrets the obstacles to a mission for which compromises were reached,” a spokesman for the French mission told AFP on Thursday.

The “compromises” refer to the fact that two ambassadors will be included in the mission, which is headed by Nobel peace laureate and anti-landmines campaigner Jody Williams.

The decision to include the ambassadors of Indonesia and Gabon has annoyed western countries, who fear they might water down the independence of the mission.

France’s ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said earlier this week he was “surprised and disappointed” by their inclusion.

Ripert said the choice indicated that the UN’s top human rights assembly was still mired in its geopolitical rifts.

The assessment mission was set up last December after a fractious debate between western powers, and Khartoum’s African and developing country allies in the Council.

After opposing western calls for a probe, African nations led by Algeria had sought a mission exclusively composed of Council diplomats, prompting a renewed clash with US and European countries over its independence.

International aid agencies, human rights groups and African Union peacekeepers have reported more attacks in recent months on civilians in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died and more than two million have fled their homes.

The Council’s chairman, Mexican ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, said he had tried to placate critics on both sides of the fence by appointing a combination of activists and diplomats to carry out the probe.

(AFP)