UK official says UN resolution on Sudan making difference, but Amnesty still criticizes
By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer
LONDON, Sep 22, 2004 (AP) — A senior British official just back from the Darfur region of Sudan said Tuesday that a U.N. resolution threatening sanctions over the violence there was already having an impact on the country’s leaders.
But an Amnesty International delegation returned to London from Sudan on Tuesday with a much different assessment of Khartoum’s reaction to the mass killings there.
“This is a crisis that is still going on. People are still being killed, raped and pushed out of their homes in Darfur,” said Irene Khan, the secretary general of the human rights group. “The government denies any responsibility for their failure to protect their people.”
She said that Amnesty met with some Sudanese officials who saw the crisis as a fabrication by relief agencies and foreign governments, and denied that Khartoum and its proxy Arab militias have been guilty of human rights abuses in Darfur.
Western governments and international aid agencies maintain that government-backed Arab militias have burned and looted African villages in Darfur and raped or killed many inhabitants in an area mainly peopled by non-Arab Africans.
According to U.N. estimates, more than 1.2 million people have fled their homes to escape the violence and more than 50,000 have died. Most of the deaths are linked to disease or malnutrition in crowded, filthy camps for the displaced.
The conflict began when two Darfur rebel groups rose up in February 2003, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of neglect and discrimination. Khartoum allegedly responded by backing Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, giving them full rein to crack down on the rebels and their supporters.
On Saturday, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on Khartoum to restore security in the Darfur region or face possible sanctions on its oil industry.
The British official, who returned Sunday from a five-day trip to Sudan and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the U.N. resolution “has had the effect of forcing the government of Khartoum to face up to what has happened in Darfur.”
He said, “I met with officials up to the vice president, and I’m in no doubt they understand it’s deeply in their interest to bring the tragedy in Darfur to an end.”
The British official and Amnesty both said that Darfur was still much too dangerous for those who fled to return.
The official said it was clear the government was to blame for the violence by the Janjaweed. “The primary responsibility undoubtedly lies with the Khartoum regime,” he said. “It massively overreacted to the rebels fighting in Darfur, and crimes against humanity have been committed by the militias it armed to fight its battles there.”
In its 11-0 vote with four abstentions, the U.N. Security Council said it would meet again to consider sanctions against Sudan’s petroleum sector or other punitive measures if the government doesn’t act quickly to stop the violence and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The resolution also authorizes U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a commission to investigate reports of human rights violations in Darfur and determine “whether or not acts of genocide have occurred,” as the United States and others have charged.
Khan said “the atmosphere of denial” in Khartoum is so strong that such an investigation is needed to dig up the mass graves in Darfur and to gather evidence about all the killings and rapes that occurred for possible prosecution.
Samkelo Mokhine, another member of the Amnesty delegation, called for a “massive increase in monitors” in Darfur, saying an international presence in every district is needed to build the confidence of the people and improve security.