INTERVIEW-U.N. official calls for W.Sudan war crime trials
By Nima Elbagir
KHARTOUM, March 26 (Reuters) – War crimes tribunals must be held to try those responsible for raping, looting and killing in African villages in Sudan’s western Darfur region, a senior U.N. official said, accusing the state of complicity.
“There are no secrets,” U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Mukesh Kapila said. “The individuals who are doing this are known. We have their names.
“The individuals who are involved occupy senior positions,” he said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday night.
He said the violence, which he described as ‘ethnic cleansing’, was mostly carried out by Arab militias known as Janjaweed who were supported by government forces.
“Under those circumstances one can only conclude that it is state sanctioned.”
Government officials have said the Janjaweed are outlaws. Senior officials previously said fighters from two Darfur rebel groups and not the Janjaweed were mainly responsible for the violence in Darfur.
He said that ideally Khartoum should try those responsible itself, but if it did not, then the international community had an obligation to do so.
“I see no reason why the international community should not consider some sort of international court or mechanism to bring to trial the individuals who are masterminding and committing the war crimes,” said Kapila, who recently compared the conflict in Darfur to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, sparking outrage from the Sudanese government in Khartoum.
Two rebel groups launched a revolt in February last year accusing Khartoum of neglecting Darfur and arming Arab militias to burn and loot African villages.
Witnesses tell of executions, public hangings and mass rape campaigns in the poor and arid Darfur region bordering Chad.
The United Nations estimates the fighting has displaced about 700,000 people with over 110,000 refugees fleeing to Chad.
A Sudanese government source said on Tuesday the United States and the European Union would sponsor talks in the coming days between Khartoum and the two Darfur rebel groups.
SUDAN’S “ETHNIC CLEANSING”
Sudan has said it will present an official complaint to the U.N. secretary-general about Kapila’s comparison of the violence in Darfur to the Rwandan genocide where extremist Hutus killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days.
But Kapila defended his position: “The only difference between Rwanda and Sudan is the numbers involved,” he said.
“Like Rwanda we have systematic and organized attempts to decimate a whole population in this case several tribes of mostly African origin. So, when I use the words ‘ethnic cleansing’, I mean ethnic cleansing.”
Kapila, constantly interrupted by calls for interview requests from media organisations worldwide, said he welcomed the attention his remarks attracted.
“In Rwanda the world failed to listen. It argued about what was happening and what wasn’t happening and the horror turned into genocide. We don’t have genocide yet in Darfur but I worry that it is a slippery slope to something worse,” he said.