UN report blames Khartoum for killings in Darfur

NAIROBI, Aug 07, 2004 (dpa) — A United Nations human rights investigation linked the Sudanese government to extrajudicial killings and summary executions in the troubled western region of Darfur, said a report made public Saturday.

The report by a U.N. human rights team found that killings of civilians by Arab militia in Darfur were done in coordination with forces of the Khartoum government.

“I concluded there was a direct link between the government forces, the militia and the defence popular forces,” the lead investigator, Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir, told the British Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday.

“It all amounts to grave human rights violations which could constitute crimes against humanity,” Jahangir said.

The U.N. says 50,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million displaced in Darfur in recent months. Pro-government Arab militia known as Janjaweed has conducted a forceful campaign against insurgent rebel groups, but stands accused of turning on the local civilian population of black Africans.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution a week ago calling on Khartoum to disarm and prosecute the militia within 30 days.

The Arab League is set to hold a special meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the situation in Darfur.

The African Union is preparing to deploy a force to protect its military observers and ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.

Several African heads of state have endorsed a proposal to increase the number of AU troops on the ground to 2,000 and give them a peacekeeping mandate, but specific plans for deployment have yet to be agreed.

Sudanese interior minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein said Friday his country would reject any foreign troops in Darfur, whether African or Western.

The U.S. Congress last month labelled the situation in Darfur “genocide”.