US considering whether W. Sudan displacements, killings constitute genocide

NAIROBI, June 14,2004 (IRIN) — The US government is considering whether the mass displacements and killings in western Sudan’s Darfur region constitute genocide, according to US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Asked whether the term genocide was more appropriate than ethnic cleansing, Powell said the matter was being discussed “inter-agency” and that lawyers and policy officials were also looking into it. “I don’t think they have -[?] come to a conclusion yet as to whether all of the criteria that are used to make a determination of genocide have been met yet… But I do know there is a review under way,” he said in an interview with the New York Times on Friday.

To view the interview go to http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/33472.htm

“You know these turn out to be almost legal matters of definition, and I’m not prepared to say what is the correct legal term for what’s happening. All I know is that there are at least a million people who are desperately in need, and many of them will die if we can’t get the international community mobilised and if we can’t get the Sudanese to cooperate with the international community. And it won’t make a whole lot of difference after the fact what you’ve called it,” he continued.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – to which the US is a signatory – obliges the United Nations to act to prevent genocide. The convention defines genocide as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, [ethnic], racial or religious group”. Such acts include killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a group in whole or in part.

Ten years ago, the Clinton administration was criticised because it failed to recognise the Rwandan genocide as such, while about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were being slaughtered.

Powell said the US government was also considering targeted sanctions against Sudanese individuals responsible for the conflict in Darfur. “We are looking at that,” he said. “No names have been presented to me and we haven’t made a policy decision about it, but we are certainly looking at that.”

He added that the US administration had “every reason to believe” that militias in Darfur were being supported by “various instrumentalities of the Sudanese government”.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, said on Sunday that “there is no ambiguity that there is a link between some of the militias and government forces”.

During a two-week trip to Sudan, she said she had received numerous accounts of extrajudicial and summary executions carried out by “government-backed militias and by the security forces themselves”.

“According to credible information, members of the armed forces, the Popular Defence Forces [PDF] and various groups of government-sponsored militias attacked villages and summarily executed civilians,” she reported, noting that many of the militias were being “integrated” into the PDF – paramilitary units organised by the government of Sudan.

“The government of the Sudan must make every effort to end the culture of impunity,” she stressed.

Last week, the government of Sudan accused US media of a “smear campaign” against it over the conflict in Darfur, saying coverage was “unbelievably biased” against Khartoum. In failing to condemn rebels operating in the region, the US media had “become a champion for these armed elements in Darfur” by justifying armed struggle, said a statement issued by the Sudanese embassy in Washington.

Khartoum has admitted to backing the Arab militias, known as the Janjawid, to fight a local rebellion. “We asked all the people of Darfur that they should help in protecting themselves against the rebellion. This standard practice which we do in this country. Whenever there is an attack on a community we ask the local community to also support, to help,” the national humanitarian aid commissioner, Dr Sulaf al-Din, told IRIN in March.

But it denies any responsibility for their systematic attacks against non-Arab civilians. Since February 2003 thousands of people have been killed and over one million people displaced, while up to 200,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad. Aid agencies and donors are now warning that hundreds of thousands could die of hunger and disease brought about as a direct result of the conflict.

A ceasefire agreement signed in Chad on 8 April by Khartoum and Darfur’s two rebel groups has been repeatedly violated, with ongoing reports of fighting and militia attacks on civilians in Darfur’s three states.

In Southern Darfur, Janjawid attacks were reported last week in at least 18 villages northwest of Nyala, the main town in the state, and near Malamm, forcing an unknown number of people to flee the areas, the UN reported.

In Western and Southern Darfur, the government has said it deployed police units and PDF to villages to reinforce security. But in some areas the same elements were restricting people’s movement and preventing people from reaching their fields, the UN added.

Gaining access to Darfur for aid workers has become easier, with visas now being granted within 48 hours, but agencies are still reporting access-related difficulties. Some had reported that equipment essential to operations such as vehicles and medical drugs had been held up in customs for months, the UN said. Other agencies were having trouble getting mobile radios into Darfur, as well as licences to operate there.

“Millions of internally displaced persons and other civilians are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection,” warned Jahangir.

Powell said the US was trying to “encourage” Khartoum to take responsibility for Darfur’s population. “We’re trying to encourage the Sudanese government to use its military to bring the militia under control and to help guard the population, if just speaking to them does not bring them under control.”

But Sudan denies responsibility for the carnage, saying it has “loudly proclaimed its willingness to join forces with the US government and the international community” to save lives and enable displaced Darfurians to return to their homes. “It is regrettable that the media has chosen to target the government of a poor nation like Sudan, and to overlook the true perpetrators, who thrive on creating conflicts and placing blame on others,” said a recent government statement.