Sudan says ready to welcome UN Darfur commission

KHARTOUM, Oct 29 (AFP) — Sudan said Friday it was ready to welcome a UN commission due in Khartoum next week to investigate allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the troubled Darfur region.

The village of Tundubai in Sudan’s Darfur region, presumed to have been burnt down by the marauding Janjaweed Arab militias, July 2004.

Justice Minister Ali Osman Yassin told Al Rai Al Aam newspaper that he was officially notified by the United Nations on Thursday that the commission would arrive on November 6.

A five-member UN panel has been created by Secretary General Kofi Annan to look into allegations of genocide and investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Darfur.

At least 70,000 people have been killed in the region and as many as 1.5 million people have fled their homes since two rebel movements rose up against the Khartoum government in February 2003, according to UN estimates.

Khartoum’s response was to the rebellion was arm and support the Janjaweed, an Arab militia which has been accused of committing massive human rights abuses — murder, mass rape and the burning of villages — against Darfur’s black African people.

Annan was asked to set up a commission in a UN Security Council resolution adopted last month after the United States said it believed genocide had been committed in Darfur, scene of what the UN describes as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.

In Khartoum, Yassin said mnembers of the commission would met President Omar al-Beshir and other ministers.

“The govenment will welcome the commission and provide it with all facilities and assistance it requires for discharging its mission in Darfur,” said Yassin.