Sudan wins reelection to UN rights panel, US walks out in protest

UNITED NATIONS, May 4 (AFP) — Sudan won reelection to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) despite concerns about its record in the strife-torn western region of Darfur, prompting a forceful protest from the United States.

Washington accused Khartoum of a litany of abuses in Darfur and then its delegation to the UN Economic and Social Council walked out moments before the body’s members elected Sudan and 13 other nations to the rights commission.

“The United States will not participate in this absurdity,” said Sichan Siv, the US representative. “Our delegation will absent itself from the meeting rather than lend support to Sudan’s candidacy.”

He and other US delegates then marched out, having warned that Sudan’s election to the commission put the credibility of the watchdog at serious risk.

They left the room before Sudan’s representative responded by accusing the United States of trying to cover up abuses committed by US forces in Iraq.

Siv maintained that Sudan was not fit to serve on the commission and noted that the UNCHR had just last month censured Khartoum for atrocities in Darfur, where government troops and pro-government militias are accused of abuses.

“The United States is perplexed and dismayed by the decision to put forward Sudan — a country that massacres its own African citizens — for election to the UN Commission on Human Rights,” he said.

Sudan has been a member of the human rights commission for several years but Siv said the situation in Darfur made its candidacy this year “entirely inappropriate.”

“Sudan’s membership on the commission threatens to undermine not only its work, but its very credibility,” he said.

The United States has frequently complained about the presence on the commission of countries it regards as human rights abusers and two years ago launched an unsuccessful campaign to prevent Libya from chairing the panel.

Sudan’s representative, Omar Bashir Mohamed Manis, said he was “dismayed” by the “exaggerated” US allegations but declined to respond directly to the charges.

Instead, he launched a stinging attack on the actions of US troops in Iraq, accusing the United States military of using “excessive and disproportionate” force in “brutal attacks” on civilians and mistreating prisoners.

“It is very ironic that the United States delegation, while shedding crocodile tears over the situation in Darfur … is turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by the American forces against the innocent civilian population in Iraq, including women and children,” Manis said.

He said Khartoum had honestly acknowledged a “humanitarian problem” in Darfur, where a year-old war is estimated to have killed 10,000 people and uprooted a million more, and asked for international assistance.

Manis noted that two UN assessment teams — including a group of experts from the human rights commission — had just returned from Darfur.

Earlier Tuesday in Geneva, a spokesman for the commission, said that team had confirmed “disturbing” findings about massive abuse of refugees fleeing attacks by government-backed militia and Sudanese troops in Darfur.

Those findings have not been made public but the mission has concluded that many of the violations “may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity” according to a report detailing interviews with refugees.

Sudan was reelected to the commission for a three-year term by acclamation along with three other countries selected to serve by the African bloc on nations: Guinea, Kenya and Togo.

Among four candidates put forward by the Asian bloc, Malaysia, Pakistan and South Korea were elected. Vietnam lost its bid to sit on the commission.

Eastern European nations chose Armenia and Romania by acclamation and Latin American countries supported Ecuador and Mexico in a similar vein.

In the Western European and Others grouping, Canada, Finland and France were elected to the commission. The fourth candidate, Spain, lost.