Sudan making the right noises to avoid sanctions over Darfur rights abuses
KHARTOUM, Aug 23 (AFP) — Sudan is stepping up its pledges of good behaviour as the deadline nears for the United Nations to take measures against Khartoum over its actions in Darfur as the government and rebel factions were due to begin talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Monday.
But Justice Minister Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin was quoted in Monday’s newspapers as discounting the threat of sanctions. “The government has shown that it is serious in its application of the roadmap agreed with the United Nations,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was due in Khartoum Monday for talks before travelling to the war-ravaged western region on Tuesday to assess the human rights position for himself.
He is the latest international dignitary to visit Darfur since the start of July after US Secretary of State Colin Powell, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.
“I am keen to see for myself the situation on the ground in Darfur, and to make clear to the Sudanese government and people the extent of British, and broader international, concern,” Straw said before his departure, according to a press release.
The foreign secretary also said he would be “liaising closely” with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is chairing the Abuja talks on behalf of the African Union (AU).
Sudan has been under threat of sanctions since July 30 when a UN Security Council resolution gave Khartoum 30 days to re-establish order in Darfur and disarm its notorious Janjaweed militia allies.
At the weekend, the Sudanese government acknowledged for the first time that the Janjaweed had committed serious human rights abuses and as gesture of good faith handed the United Nations a list of 30 suspects.
Rape was among an array of accusations levelled against the 30, despite longstanding denials by Sudanese officials of rights watchdog Amnesty International’s accusations that rape was being used systematically as a weapon in the suppression of the 18-month-old armed rebellion by ethnic minorities in Darfur.
“The government does not deny that human rights abuses occur and it will not protect those who commit them,” Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin admitted on Sunday.
The list is designed to placate the UN Security Council, which will consider the situation in Darfur from August 30, the day after the ultimatum expires.
The government had earlier provided a list of 11 safe zones in the region where victims of the Janjaweed could take refuge.
The Arab Janjaweed are accused by the UN and humanitarian organisations of brutally forcing black African Sudanese off their land.
UN chief envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, has to present a preliminary report on Darfur to the Security Council on Tuesday, Sudanese sources say, and will return to Darfur on Thursday with a goverment delegation to review the situation on the ground.
Sudan has also deployed some 9,000 police in Darfur since the start of August and signed an agreement with the International Office of Migrations over the voluntary return of more than a million people who have fled Darfur, vowing to ensure their security.
The leader of Sudan’s delegation in Abuja, Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa, said Monday there was no need for the AU to send a proposed 2,000-strong peacekeeping force to Darfur, insisting that Khartoum could handle the security situation.
Sudan has accepted some 300 troops from Rwanda and Nigeria to protect an AU ceasefire monitoring team.
Some 200,000 refugees from Darfur have already fled to Chad and the UN says there are more than a million more people who have been displaced from their homes inside Sudan.
The 18-month civil war in the province has left between 30,000 and 50,000 dead, according to UN estimates.