H.R. groups hope Congressional call to declare Sudan atrocities ‘genocide’ will draw more attention

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS, July 24, 2004 (AP) — Human rights groups expressed hope that a U.S. Congressional resolution declaring that the atrocities taking place in western Sudan are genocide would lead to more international action to stop what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

But, they cautioned, it’s a hard charge to prove.

“There have clearly been massive atrocities committed against civilians, but genocide requires a particular intent that’s not easy to prove,” said Leslie Lefkow, an Amsterdam-based researcher with Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based rights group has called the violence in the vast Darfur region of the oil-rich country “ethnic cleansing” but not “genocide,” a legal term that would require international action under a 1948 U.N. convention.

“Whatever you call it … this is just an appalling human rights situation that needs to be addressed,” Lefkow said. “The international community should be responding to it and putting the absolute maximum pressure to see some improvement.”

The 15-month conflict has killed up to 30,000 people, mostly black Africans, displaced more than 1 million and left 2.2 million in desperate need of food and medicine.

Arab militias have been blamed for most of the violence, which began when two groups from Darfur’s African tribes took up arms over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle over land and resources with Arab countrymen.

U.S. officials and humanitarian groups have accused the Sudanese government of backing the Janjaweed, the main Arab militia. The government has denied any connection and accused the international community of meddling.

The U.S. Congress approved resolutions late Thursday declaring that atrocities unfolding in Darfur are genocide and urged the Bush administration to do the same.

Passed unanimously in the House and Senate, the measures urged U.S. President George W. Bush to call the situation in Sudan “by its rightful name” and urged his administration to work with the international community to stop it.

The Congressional action came as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday their second meeting in three weeks.

The United States also has circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that for the first time directly threatens sanctions against the Sudanese government and sets a timetable for assessing progress on apprehending the Janjaweed.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, meanwhile, rejected American claims that the killings in his country amounted to genocide.

Ismail said Friday that his government was doing all it could to solve the humanitarian crisis.

“Congress is always biased, I would rather say what the Africans who are concerned with this case” are saying, Ismail told reporters in Brussels, Belgium. “They issued a resolution at an African summit that they stated clearly that there is no genocide in Darfur.”

Meeting this month in Ethiopia, the African Union pressed Sudan to “neutralize” the Arab militiamen and others involved in massive human rights violations in Darfur but said they did not consider the atrocities to be genocide.

Powell said Thursday that more reports from the region were required before making a determination about genocide.

“There is a legal definition of genocide which includes specific intent to destroy an entire group,” Powell said Thursday.

But he called the situation a “humanitarian catastrophe” and urged Sudan to act quickly to disarm the Arab militias.

Amnesty International also has not called what’s happening in Darfur genocide but welcomed the Congressional initiative as a way to raise awareness and persuade other governments, especially those in Africa, to put more pressure on the Sudanese government.

“There is a potential for it to be genocide, but to date we don’t have enough access or information to confirm that,” Amnesty spokesman Adotei Akwei said.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said it was up to the signatories of the genocide convention to decide if action should be taken and to raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council or the International Criminal Court.

“Those are the options open and we’re just waiting to see whether any member state decides to take one of those options,” he said Friday.

Separately, leaders from the two main rebel groups in Darfur the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement have agreed to participate in “substantive negotiations” for a political solution to the crisis, Eckhard said.

The announcement came a day after talks in Geneva mediated by the African Union. The Janjaweed were not involved in the talks.

A first round of peace talks at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia were suspended July 17 after just two days when rebels walked out, insisting that the Sudanese government honor the terms of previous peace agreements before beginning a fresh round of talks. A date for a new round was not determined.