Allegations before Sudan deadline
By Krishnadev Calamur, United Press International
WASHINGTON, Aug 27, 2004 — Less than a week before a U.N.-set deadline for the Sudanese government to disarm the Janjaweed in Darfur expires, a human rights group has alleged that Khartoum is turning a blind eye to, and in some cases is complicit with, the Arab militia in the region.
The report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch comes a day after a top Sudanese official said his government would ignore the U.N. deadline, set to expire Monday, and instead focus its attention on peace talks with Darfur rebels in Abuja, Nigeria. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy to the region, Jan Pronk, is now in Sudan ahead of a report he will deliver to the U.N. Security Council detailing the progress made by the government in disarming the Janjaweed. He was quoted by Sudanese media as saying the government was not doing enough.
The Human Rights Watch report said Friday the Sudanese government was allowing the Janjaweed to run 16 camps in Darfur, the scene of attacks by the militia on black villages. Five of the camps, the group said quoting witnesses, were shared by the Janjaweed and the Sudanese military. HRW also alleged Khartoum had absorbed members of the militia, including top leaders, into the police and army. HRW demanded U.N. sanctions on members of the Sudanese government for their alleged failure to comply with the U.N. resolution.
“Throughout the time Khartoum was supposedly reining in the Janjaweed, these camps have been operating in plain sight,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch in a statement. “These Janjaweed camps should be immediately investigated by the U.N. and the African Union cease-fire monitors, then disbanded.”
The report comes ahead of Monday’s U.N. deadline for Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed and stop the atrocities in Darfur, which has pit the government-backed Arab militia against the local black population and rebels. More than 30,000 blacks have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in a campaign the international community regards as “ethnic cleansing.” Both ethnic groups are Muslim.
Late last month, the U.N. Security Council gave Sudan one month to disarm the Janjaweed militia and Darfur rebel groups or face unspecified action. The resolution also called for a report from the U.N. secretary-general on the issue.
In Abuja, meanwhile, Sudanese officials did not seem to be worried about the passage of that deadline, preferring instead to deal with the Darfur rebels.
Agriculture Minister Majdhub al-Khalifah, who is representing the government in the African Union-backed talks, told reporters Khartoum “will not take notice” of the Aug. 31 deadline, adding he expected those talks, in their fifth day Friday, to continue for another five days. His comments were reported by the Alwan newspaper.
In Khartoum, meanwhile, U.N. envoy Pronk was quoted by local media as saying the situation in Darfur was dire.
“In Khartoum, we hear a lot of fine words, but the situation in Darfur has not changed much,” he said. “The U.N. doesn’t want promises, but their fulfillment.”
Pronk is due to present his report to the United Nations next week. That report is likely to determine the international community’s next step in dealing with Khartoum. Ever since U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Annan traveled to Darfur in late July and met with Sudanese officials and refugees, the crisis has received international attention.
The U.S. State Department is considering whether the violence constitutes genocide. U.S. officials are conducting interviews in Chad, where many of the refugees from Darfur fled, to determine the scale of violence. Data are being reported back to Washington, which will then make the findings public and determine if the violence constitutes genocide.
The State Department has been reluctant to make that notification, emphasizing that the United States, which has been spearheading international humanitarian and diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, would be doing nothing different on the ground if such a determination were made.
“Regardless of what the outcome of this information-gathering and decision-making is, there is nothing that we would be doing now differently, I think, in terms of helping the people of Sudan,” department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said earlier this week. “Because their welfare and protecting them and doing what we can to help them is our first and foremost concern, regardless of the label you put to the suffering that they are going through.”
The department has made almost daily references to the crisis, noting improvement in the humanitarian access to refugees in Darfur, but adding the government needs to do more to provide security to refugees, many of who are still reluctant to return to their homes.
“The government of Sudan … needs to take decisive action to disarm the Janjaweed and provide real security for the people of Darfur,” Ereli noted earlier this week.
Much of the recent diplomacy has been conducted by the African Union, which has now taken the lead in trying to resolve the crisis. AU observers are on the ground to ensure prompt aid deliver to those most in need, and security. The AU wants to send between 2,000 and 3,000 peacekeeping troops to Darfur to help end the violence. Sudan has been reluctant to approve the force, insisting the troops could play a role in disarming Darfur rebel groups alone. The only foreign troops in Darfur are 150 Rwandans sent to protect AU cease-fire monitors. They are expected to be joined by another 150 Nigerians by the end of the week.
Fighting has gone on despite an April 8 agreement that calls for a cease-fire, international monitoring, humanitarian access to Darfur and disarmament of Janjaweed. The fighting began last February, when African Muslim rebel groups — represented by the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement — began fighting Sudanese troops and Janjaweed.
The rebels say they will not disarm until they win a political settlement. They want greater autonomy and a larger share of income for the region, which they say is marginalized by the Arab government in Khartoum.