U.N. rights chief urges international probe of war crimes in Sudan

GENEVA, May 7, 2004 (AP) — The U.N. rights chief said Friday a government-backed “reign of terror” was taking place in Sudan ‘s western Darfur province, with indications of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Bertrand Ramcharan, acting high commissioner for human rights, said in a report to be presented to the U.N. Security Council later Friday that investigators had found “disturbing patterns of massive human rights violations.”

The abuses, “many of which may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity” were “perpetrated by the government of Sudan and its proxy militia.”

“According to information collected, it is clear that there is a reign of terror in Darfur,” said Ramcharan in the 18-page report produced by U.N. experts who visited the province and spoke to Sudanese refugees who had fled to neighboring Chad.

He said Sudanese government officials acknowledged to the mission that serious violations are taking place, but they contended that they were individual excesses rather than a state policy and that many violations were by the rebels.

Ramcharan noted that the conflict stemmed from a rebellion by ethnic groups complaining about the economic neglect of their region by Sudanese authorities in the capital, Khartoum.

It began to intensify in early 2003, and the government responded with repeated attacks on civilians by government forces and by government-backed militia groups, Ramcharan said.

Government forces have used “indiscriminate aerial bombardments and ground attacks on unarmed civilians” and “disproportionate force,” he said.

“The attacks appear to have been largely ethnically based,” he said, noting that the victims were predominantly non-Arab Africans.

“Men and young boys appear to have been particularly targeted in ground attacks,” he said. “The pattern of attacks on civilians includes killing, rape, pillage – including of livestock – and destruction of property, including water sources.”

The result has been that massive numbers of people have fled their homes, either reaching Chad or remaining homeless in Darfur, he said.

The report was based on findings of by a U.N. team of experts who visited some of the estimated 110,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad last month and then went to Khartoum and Darfur.

“The Government of Sudan appears to have sponsored a militia composed of a loose collection of fighters of apparently Arab background, mainly from Darfur, known as the ‘Janjaweed’.”

Government officials were more concerned with “refuting the Arab character of the Janjaweed,” rather than stopping the militia from committing atrocities and bringing them to justice, Ramcharan said.

The report was similar to a draft based only on the trip to Chad that was leaked last month during the annual meeting of the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Both sides have promised to observe a cease-fire signed last month until they hold talks next month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.