Darfur students call on UN to probe ‘humanitarian disaster’
KHARTOUM, Feb 16 (AFP) — A Darfur students’ association urged the United Nations to launch an inquiry into what it called the “humanitarian disaster” unfolding in the troubled western region of Sudan.
“The humanitarian disaster goes on, with mass killings, ethnic cleansing operations, the burning of villages … and arbitrary arrests,” the League of Darfur Students said in a statement.
The group said last week’s announcement by President Omar al-Beshir that the army had crushed a year-old rebellion in Darfur represented “the height of hypocrisy and lies, given the intensification of the fighting there”.
“We call on the United Nations to send a commission of inquiry to shed light on these acts of genocide, and to guarantee that those responsible are brought to trial and given a fair hearing,” the association said.
The students also called on the United Nations and international community to provide immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Darfur, where government troops and their Arab militia allies have been fighting rebels drawn mainly from the region’s non-Arab minorities.
A European Union delegation led by the Dutch charge d’affaires in Khartoum voiced concerns about the humanitarian situation in Darfur at a meeting on Monday with Sudanese officials, the Sudanese foreign ministry said.
The two sides agreed to create a joint six-member committee — three representatives from each side — to monitor efforts to bring humanitarian relief to the people in the region, the ministry said in a statement.
Some 3,000 people have been killed and another 670,000 displaced within Sudan itself by the conflict, while another 100,000 Sudanese are estimated to have fled across the border into Chad because of the rebellion.
US Agency for International Development (USAID) assistant administrator Roger Winter also voiced concerns about delays in delivering aid to residents of the Darfur region during a visit to Sudan last week.
Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Sunday after talks with UN special envoy for humanitarian affairs in Sudan Tom Vraalsen that aid corridors would be open as of Monday.