HRW and CRS criticise Danforth's report

The international aid agency Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) have both welcomed the report produced by US Special Envoy for Sudan John Danforth on the prospects for peace in Sudan, while simultaneously expressing reservations about specific points in it.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, CRS applauded the progress made by Danforth, but urged for greater attention be paid to the right of self-determination and the destructive role of oil exploitation in Sudan. The agency said the report addressed the issue of self-determination in "a limited manner".

"Many Sudanese churches - key actors within civil society - strongly believe that unity cannot come at the price of sacrificing justice, and that the full exercise of the right of self-determination by the people of Sudan is the only true means for promoting justice and facilitation of a lasting peace," CRS stated.

"The war must end in peace with justice. Our suffering people should therefore be allowed to freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social, and cultural development," CRS quoted a statement issued in March 2002 by Sudanese church leaders as saying.

CRS shared the report's affirmation of oil as a key issue, the agency said, but added that negotiations over oil revenue-sharing agreements could not proceed while human rights abuses using oil revenue, including attacks on civilians, continued unabated. "Both the government and international oil companies operating in Sudan have a moral responsibility to ensure that oil does not contribute to conflict or repression."

HRW said the Danforth mission had resulted in "major steps towards improving the human rights crisis in Sudan", and that it had made human rights recommendations crucial to the future of the country.

"The United States can play a key role in efforts to secure peace and human rights in Sudan," said Jemera Rone, HRW's Susan researcher. "Senator Danforth has made a useful contribution, and President Bush now needs to pledge the United States' firm support for human rights as a key to the peace process."

One shortcoming of the report, however, was that in discussing strategies for the future of Sudan, it elevated freedom of religion above other basic rights, said HRW. "This approach fails to come to grips with the broad nature of human rights violations that are the root causes of the 19-year-old civil war."

The use of torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, extrajudicial executions, the lack of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and in particular the second-class citizenship and discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity against many Sudanese, not only southerners, had all contributed to the current conflict, said HRW.

"The Danforth report is not US policy at this time," said Rone. "Uproar over the self-determination point has distracted from the real human rights accomplishments of the Danforth agreements, and the need to provide substantial resources to see their implementation," she cautioned.

Former Senator Danforth was appointed as peace envoy on 6 September 2001. His mandate was to determine the commitment to peace by the parties to the Sudan conflict, and to recommend whether the US should engage energetically in efforts to bring about a just peace in Sudan.

To view the full report submitted by Danforth to President George Bush click here