Sudan to try 10 servicemen for Darfur rights abuses

KHARTOUM, Sept 22 (AFP) — Sudan’s justice minister said that 10 members of the regular forces are to be tried for human rights abuses in Darfur, the area which the United Nations says is the scene of the world’s worst current humanitarian disaster.

Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin told reporters that the men had been stripped of their immunity after some had been “caught red-handed” and some arrested on evidence suggesting they had committed human rights abuses.

Yassin refused to give any other details, and would only add: “The move is in line with an agreement with the United Nations for arresting and trying anyone suspected of committing a crime in Darfur.”

The United Nations says 50,000 people have died and 1.5 million others displaced at the hands of militia gangs since a revolt broke out in the region 19 months ago.

Irene Kahn, secretary general of the London-based human rights group Amnesty International, said after a trip to Darfur that the Sudanese government was “in a state of denial” over the conflict there.

“This is a crisis that is still going on,” Kahn told reporters in London. “People are being killed, raped and pushed out of their homes.”

Sudanese officials have said they are responding, albeit grudgingly, to a UN Security Council resolution, adopted last Saturday, threatening sanctions if President Omar al-Beshir’s government fails to restore peace in Darfur after 19 months of conflict.