Human rights body denounces continuing impunity in Sudan
NEW YORK, Jan 6, 2004 (PANA) — Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned here Thursday that continuing atrocities in western Sudan’s Darfur region and impunity for war crimes in the south jeopardize prospects for peace in that country.
HRW issued the caution three days before the signing of a peace agreement to end the 21-year armed conflict that has claimed more than two million lives in Southern Sudan.
The Sudanese government and the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) are scheduled to sign Sunday in Nairobi the final peace accords which have been under negotiations since June 2002 at Naivasha, a Kenyan holiday resort.
HRW deplored that the peace agreement lacks any provision for a truth commission, prosecutions or other forms of accountability for past abuses in the southern conflict.
“The peace agreement is an important step, but lasting peace in Sudan will require genuine security for civilians and justice for the atrocities committed both in Darfur and southern Sudan,” said Peter Takirambudde, HRW’s executive director for the Africa division.
“Even as the Naivasha agreement is being celebrated in the South, people
are being raped and burned out of their homes in Darfur. The Security Council must clearly send Sudan the message that there will be no impunity for crimes of this magnitude,” he added.
Meanwhile, Takirambudde said the Sudanese government and its “Janjaweed”
militias, many of which have recently been incorporated into the army, police and other government forces, were responsible for a scorched-earth campaign of “ethnic cleansing” in Darfur region.
Their actions since early 2003, he said, has turned that previously self-sufficient agrarian and pastoral region into the site of one of the world’s most serious humanitarian disasters.
Despite a cease-fire agreement in April between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups in Darfur, the past few months have seen a new surge in fighting.
The New York-based HRW noted that continued attacks on civilians and aid workers have hampered relief operations to the more than 1.6 million people who have fled government and militia attacks on their villages since early 2003.
Several hundred thousand people were cut off from aid in late 2004 because of these new attacks. Recent fighting has also caused thousands more civilians to flee their homes, it said.
HRW argued that most of the displaced people were farmers, and that the region’s annual harvest has fallen to less than 20% of the usual food production as a result.
“This is a critical moment for Darfur,” Takirambudde said. “The government’s failure to prosecute those responsible for war crimes has meant continued insecurity for civilians.”
Last September, the UN Security Council authorized, under resolution 1564, the establishment of an international commission of inquiry to investigate serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed in Darfur and to determine whether genocide has occurred.
HRW urged the Security Council to refer the commission’s findings, expected in late January, to the International Criminal Court to ensure the law is applied against those who committed the serious crimes in Darfur.
“Ending impunity will help improve protection, but we also need to see more African Union troops on the ground,” said Takirambudde.
According to him, the Sudanese government “has entirely failed in its responsibility to protect its own people, and others will need to ensure their security.”
The African Union, tasked by the parties in the Darfur conflict to monitor the now-tattered cease-fire agreement, in September sought an expanded force and mandate to protect civilians.
While the AU has shown willingness to shoulder this burden to promote peace and stability in Africa, it has deployed fewer than 1,000 troops in Darfur-a region the size of France, he observed.
Takirambudde said the African Union promised to deploy another 2,200 by December 31, but has missed the deadline.
Human Rights Watch called on the AU to urgently increase the number of troops deployed in Darfur, expand their presence to rural areas, and seek further international support for its operations.