Sudan warns UN against naming special rights rapporteur

KHARTOUM, April 19 (AFP) — Khartoum warned the United Nations on Tuesday against appointing a special human rights rapporteur for Sudan, arguing such an “irrational” move would only complicate the Darfur crisis.

A Sudanese refugee cries upon reaching Bahai on the Chad border, after fleeing political violence in Darfur, Sudan in this July 9, 2004. (AP).

The government issued its warning as the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission prepared to vote on a resolution aimed at piling more pressure on Khartoum over its responsibility in atrocities committed in Darfur.

“The unwise tackling by the (UN) Security Council of the Darfur conflict now prevails in the deliberations of the Human Rights Commission as manifested in the insistence of the European group to place the Sudan under the special rapporteur article,” State Foreign Minister Naguib al-Khair Abdel Wahab told reporters.

He described two UN Security Council resolutions passed earlier this month on Darfur as “irrational” and warned that Khartoum would also refuse to cooperate with a rights rapporteur if one was appointed.

“A resolution under Article Nine will not contribute to resolving the Darfur crisis but will, instead, further complicate the situation there,” Abdel Wahab said.

The international community stepped up the pressure on Khartoum earlier this month when the United Nations passed a resolution referring Darfur war criminals to the international court in The Hague.

The UN Security Council passed another resolution imposing sanctions against officials involved in war crimes, a move which was expected to allow for the main rebel movements to come back to the negotiating table.

According to some estimates, more than 300,00 people have been killed and some two million displaced since an uprising by rebels complaining of Darfur’s economic marginalisation was repressed by the government and its proxy militias.

They have been accused by the international community of committing atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan and failing to protect civilians. Washington has called the violence genocide.