UN investigators accuse gov't of atrocities in Darfur

A United Nations mission investigating human rights in Darfur has accused the Sudanese government of failing to protect civilians, saying the government had participated in orchestrating and committing atrocities against its own people.

"The situation [in Darfur] is characterised by gross and systematic violation of human rights and grave breaches of international humanitarian law," stated the report, compiled for the UN Human Rights Council by a team headed by Nobel peace prize winner Jody Williams.

"The principal pattern is one of a violent counter-insurgency campaign waged by the government of the Sudan in concert with Janjawid/militia, and targeting mostly civilians," said the report, released as a three-week session of the council began in Geneva.

Violations included murder, torture, gang-rape, forced displacement and arbitrary arrests, according to the report, which also noted that rebel forces were guilty of serious abuses of human rights and humanitarian law.

"All parties to the conflict must recognise that applicable human rights and humanitarian law standards must be respected during internal armed conflict and that the 'fog of war' is not an acceptable justification for violating these standards," it added.

The mission, which carried out its work from 5 February to 7 March, said that while the international community, including the African Union and the United Nations, had taken steps to deal with the crisis in Darfur, the efforts had been resisted and obstructed by the Sudanese authorities or had proven inadequate and ineffective.

The situation is characterised by gross and systematic violation of human rights

The mission - which was denied visas to enter Sudan and had to rely on evidence from relevant people in neighbouring countries, including refugees and aid workers - called for the effective protection of civilians, continuing efforts towards a search for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, expanded humanitarian access and compensation and redress for victims of the conflict.

Failure by the government of Sudan to protect civilians in Darfur meant that the responsibility must be urgently assumed by the international community.

The mission recommended that the Sudanese government cooperate fully with efforts by the UN and AU to deploy a joint peacekeeping force in Darfur, and demanded that the government remove obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid in Darfur and respect its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. All armed groups in Darfur should observe international law, it added.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum, accusing it of neglect and discrimination against the region. The government armed militias known as the Janjawid in a bid to suppress the uprising, but the militias have been widely accused of carrying out a scorched-earth campaign of murder, rape and pillaging that has targeted mainly non-Arab inhabitants of Darfur.

An estimated two million people have been made homeless by the conflict, which has since spilled over into eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic.

Full report

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