UN mistaken in failing to find genocide-Darfur rebels
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Feb 1, 2005 (Reuters) – Rebels from the Darfur region of western Sudan said on Tuesday a U.N. report was mistaken in failing to accuse the Sudan government and allied Arab militias of genocide in the Darfur conflict.
“If this report says there is no genocide in Darfur then we reject this report,” Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim told Reuters by telephone from his headquarters in the Eritrean capital Asmara.
“There are hundreds of mass graves that the commission did not go to,” he said, adding the decision to stop short of a genocide finding was political.
Leader Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur of the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said the report was incomplete because U.N. investigators did not have access to areas where the worst fighting took place.
“But I am sure that the international community will in the future gain access to these areas in Darfur and will realise that genocide has occurred against our people here,” said Nur, a former lawyer.
The U.N. report, released on Monday, recommended that unnmaed government officials and militia leaders be referred to the International Criminal Court for widespread and systematic abuses, which may constitute crimes against humanity but did not amount to genocide. The United States said last year genocide had occurred in Darfur.
Nur said he would welcome prosecutions against anyone accused of war crimes, including members of his movement. The report said the confidential list of those accused of crimes included several members of the rebel movements.
“I hope that anyone and everyone who is accused of committing a war crime will be brought to court,” he said. “Even if I myself am accused I am ready to appear before any court.”
“GRATEFUL” FOR EXONERATION
Officials in Khartoum declined to comment immediately on the report, saying they needed more time to study the findings.
But Sudan’s ambassador to Britain Hassan Abdin told the BBC in London: “We are grateful to the international commission for exonerating the Sudanese government of committing genocide… There was no genocide in Sudan.”
He denied the government was responsible for war crimes but said: “I think there are individuals who have been responsible and should be held accountable for the violation of human rights.”
After years of tribal conflict over scarce resources in arid Darfur, rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing the government of neglect and of giving preferential treatment to Arab tribes. They accuse Khartoum of arming Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages.
Khartoum says it armed some militias to fight the rebels but denies any links to the Janjaweed, saying they are outlaws.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the rebellion began and more than 1.8 million people have fled their homes because of the violence.
Tom Cargill, Africa expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, said he believed the debate over whether genocide took place in Darfur had “distracted from taking measures to actually stop the fighting”.
TIME FOR UN ACTION
He said the report was probably right in stopping short of calling it genocide as there did not seem to be a desire on behalf of the government to “destroy an entire people”, even though ethnic cleansing had certainly taken place in Darfur.
James Dyson, Amnesty International spokesman in London, said the genocide debate was secondary to the need for action.
“It’s now time for the Security Council to act. We don’t believe it’s any less worthwhile because they talked about crimes against humanity … the fact that they didn’t pronounce on genocide is a side issue,” he said. “Darfur is the worst example but what Sudan is suffering from is a complete lack of justice in many areas. If the United Nations does not take action on Darfur it sends out the message that condones this sort of behaviour from the government.
“We’ve seen months and even years of backsliding. Some members are putting national self interest before the victims in Darfur. It’s been a disgraceful betrayal.”
He called on Washington to drop its opposition to sending those accused of war crimes in Darfur to the ICC.
“The United States must not deny the people of Darfur justice,” Dyson said. (Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in London)