U.N. human rights experts concerned over Sudan abuses
By JONATHAN FOWLER Associated Press Writer
GENEVA, Mar 26, 2004 (AP) — Eight U.N. human rights experts said Friday they were gravely concerned over abuses in western Sudan, where fighting between government troops and insurgents has driven hundred of thousands of people from their homes.
Despite planned peace talks between Sudan’s government and the rebel Sudanese Liberation Movement, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the Darfur region, said the experts, who report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
They included the commission’s expert on torture, Theo van Boven: Francis Deng, the specialist on displaced persons, who hails from Sudan; Asma Jahangir, who reports on summary executions, and Paul Hunt, the watchdog agencys health expert.
“The situation has seriously deteriorated,” they said in a joint statement, citing “attacks against refugees and displaced persons, the rape of women and girls, abduction of children, the burning of dozens of villages, looting, and destruction of livestock by the militias.
Aid agencies, which have had only limited access to the region, estimate that more than 800,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting. More than 110,000 of those forced from their homes have fled to Chad.
The insurgency in Darfur began in February 2003 and has intensified as peace talks between the government and southern rebels fighting a 21-year-long civil war have inched toward their conclusion. Those talks are being held in Kenya.
But the talks do not include the Darfur rebels, who say they are fighting for a share of power and wealth in Africa’s largest country – the same as the southern insurgents.
Both conflicts pit African Sudanese against those of Arab origin.
Last week, Mukesh Kapila, the U.N. resident coordinator for Sudan, said that attacks by government-allied Arab militias on tribes of African origin in the Darfur region were “close to the definition of ethnic cleansing.”
“The government is allegedly encouraging the actions of the militias in order to pursue a strategy of forced displacement of the non-Arab population of the region,” the human rights experts said Friday.
“We urge all parties in the conflict to respect civilian populations. We affirm the absolute necessity of identifying the perpetrators and ensuring that they are held accountable in conformity with international standards.”