Sudan rejects Darfur genocide accusation
KHARTOUM, Sept 10 (AFP) — Sudan said Friday it “categorically rejects” US accusations that it carried out genocide in the Darfur, scene of what the United Nations calls the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world today.
“To consider what is happening in Darfur as genocide does not represent the international consensus and sends a negative signal to the other side who are negotiating with the government,” Khartoum’s ambassador to Washington Khedr Haroun was quoted as saying in a letter published by the press here.
He warned that US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s declaration Thursday would only prolong the conflict that has killed tens of thousands, and hamper peace talks under way in Nigeria.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday described atrocities in the western Sudanese region of Darfur as genocide and demanded a UN probe into the crisis, hastening moves toward sanctions on the government in Khartoum.
Powell told a Senate hearing that evidence compiled by the United States “concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility, and that genocide may still be occurring.”
The Sudanese government has been accused of arming and backing Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, which have rampaged through the western Darfur region for the past 19 months.
An estimated 50,000 people have been killed and 1.4 million more uprooted in a campaign against Darfur’s black African population, which began in February 2003 when Khartoum and the Janjaweed cracked down on a rebel uprising.
US President George W. Bush said he was “appalled” by the violence and called for the United Nations to undertake a full investigation of the “genocide and other crimes in Darfur.”
He said his government was seeking a new Security Council resolution to authorize an expanded African Union security force to prevent further bloodshed and would seek to ban flights by Sudanese military aircraft in Darfur.
But the 15-nation UN Security Council has emerged divided over the proposed US resolution which hangs the threat of sanctions over Sudan, with Russia, Pakistan and especially China voicing strong objections to the draft.
The resolution, like a similar measure passed July 30, demands that Khartoum disarm and rein in the Janjaweed and take other steps to end the violence or face international sanctions.
Khedr said he contacted the State Department to express “extreme dismay with the classification given by Powell to the events in Darfur which does not serve the efforts being exerted by the African Union, the (Sudanese) government and other parties for reaching peace in Darfur, but, rather, obstructs them.”
African Union-sponsored talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja between Sudan and two rebel groups aimed at resolving the Darfur crisis have made little headway in three weeks.
Khedr said the US position deviated from the view of many in the international community such as European Union, the African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement which he said “ruled out the existence of genocide because it is difficult to distinguish between the Arabs and others.”
“This is a message that heralds continuity of the crisis,” he said.
Khedr criticised the way in which the United States compiled the information on which it based its classification, saying it was “lacking credibility” and based on “weak methods.”