Sudan pledges to try Darfur’s human rights violators

KHARTOUM, Sudan, July 16, 2004 (AP) — The Sudanese government said Friday it would try anyone who violated human rights in Darfur, where 17 months of fighting involving African rebels, Arab militiamen and government troops and has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than a million.

International human rights groups have accused the government of backing genocidal attacks by the Arab militiamen against African villagers in Darfur, a western area where Sudanese of Arab and African descent have long clashed over scarce resources. The government denies supporting the militia, known as the Janjaweed.

“Those individuals and groups accused of violating human rights will face justice,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said early Friday following a marathon meeting with U.N. envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk.

Pronk had no comment after the meeting, held to follow up an agreement signed between the Sudanese government and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on July 3 that calls for disarming the Janjaweed, deploying 6,000 Sudanese soldiers and policemen to Darfur, facilitating humanitarian aid, and allowing African Union troops and human rights monitors into Darfur.

U.N. and Sudanese officials are to meet again Aug. 2. Meanwhile, they will present a joint report to the U.N. Security Council.

The government blames the trouble in Darfur on the two African rebel groups that took up arms in early 2003 over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle over land and resources with Arab countrymen.

During the meeting with Pronk, Sudanese officials said they had started deploying extra security forces to Darfur and lifting restrictions that had slowed aid, Ismail said.

“The report we have presented included what we were able to do in less than two weeks, and what we weren’t able to do, we have given reasons for that,” Ismail said.

U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said earlier that Washington wants to hear from Pronk before pushing for a vote on a Security Council resolution calling for an arms embargo and travel ban against the Janjaweed.