HRW report on ethnic cleansing is fake: Sudan’s FM

KHARTOUM, Sudan, July 21, 2004 (AP)–Sudan ‘s foreign minister Wednesday dismissed as fake government documents obtained by a human rights group reportedly proving that authorities are backing a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against black African tribesmen in Darfur.

“These documents are 100% fabricated,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters.

He was referring to a report by the New York-based Human Right Watch that cited Sudanese government documents obtained from the civil administration in Darfur.

HRW Director Kenneth Roth said Monday that the documents “incontrovertibly show that government officials directed recruitment, arming and other support to the ethnic militias known as Janjaweed.”

According to HRW, four documents covering the period from November 2003 to March 2004, obtained from the civil administration in Darfur, prove the government has lied in saying it does not control the Janjaweed Arab militias in the western province.

Ismail said such reports aim at putting pressure on the U.N. Security Council to take action against Sudan .

Darfur’s troubles stem from long-standing tensions between nomadic Arab tribes and their African farming neighbors over dwindling water and agricultural land. Those tensions exploded into violence in February 2003 when the two African rebel groups took up arms over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle with Arab countrymen.

The U.N. estimates up to 30,000 people have been killed in Darfur, but some analysts put the figure much higher. The death toll could surge to more than 350,000 if aid doesn’t reach more than 2 million people soon, the U.S. Agency for International Development has warned.