Human rights group says Sudanese government forces intentionally targeting civilians in western Sudan
NAIROBI, April 1, 2004 (AP) — Sudanese forces are killing, raping and forcing civilians from their homes to suppress an insurgency in western Sudan , an international human rights group said Friday, accusing the government of committing “crimes against humanity.”
While Sudanese soldiers have taken part in the fighting in the western Darfur region, Arab militia armed and paid by the government have carried out the bulk of the attacks against the region’s traditional inhabitants, Muslims of African descent, Human Rights Watch said in a report.
The insurgents draw most of their fighters from Darfur’s African tribes and the government is “seeking to destroy any potential support base for the rebels,” the New York-based group said.
Rebel and Sudanese officials weren’t immediately available for comment. But the Sudanese government has repeatedly denied its forces are intentionally attacking civilians.
The report, entitled “Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan ,” also noted that the rebels have at times attacked civilians and are reportedly using children for fighters.
But “the government of Sudan and allied Arab militia … are implementing a strategy of ethnic-based murder, rape and forcible displacement of civilians,” said the report, based on interviews with Sudanese refugees who have fled to neighboring Chad.
“The Sudanese government is complicit in these abuses and holds the highest degree of responsibility for pursuing a military policy that has resulted in the commission of crimes against humanity,” the report said.
As fighting in Darfur has intensified in recent months, so have accusations that the government is targeting civilians.
On March 19, the U.N. resident coordinator for Sudan , Mukesh Kapila, said that attacks against civilians in Darfur by the Arab militia were “close to the definition of ethnic cleansing.”
The U.S., U.N. and international aid groups have said the fighting has created a humanitarian catastrophe, and aid agencies, which have had only limited access to the region, estimate that more than 800,000 civilians have been displaced.
“The militias are not only killing individuals, they are decimating the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families,” Georgette Gagnon, deputy director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said Friday. “The people being targeted are the farmers of the region, and unless these abuses are stopped and people receive humanitarian relief, we could see famine in a few months’ time.”
Peace talks between the government and rebels last year faltered and the latest round of indirect negotiations got off to a rocky start this week with the rebels and government disagreeing over the agenda for the talks.
The conflict began in February 2003, when two rebel groups – the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement – took up arms, saying they were fighting for a share of power and wealth in Africa’s largest country.
The insurgency in Darfur 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.