Sudan Human Rights Effort Blasted

Human rights organizations slammed the Sudanese government for failing to improve security and silencing people from speaking out.

Sudan's government is negating its pledge to improve security for its citizens in the embattled Darfur region by legitimizing militia groups and barring international aid, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

The report, "Empty Promises: Continuing Abuses in Darfur, Sudan," said Sudanese armed forces and the government-backed Arab Janjaweed militias in Darfur continue to attack men, rape women and steal livestock with impunity.

"The Sudanese government insists that it is taking significant measures, but the continuing atrocities in Darfur prove that Khartoum's claims simply aren't credible," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director for Human Rights Watch's Africa Division.

"If the government were serious about wanting to protect civilians, it would welcome a greater international presence," he added.

The United Nations has described the 18-month conflict in the sprawling, arid region of Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The report comes after the U.N.-Sudan agreement, called the Plan of Action for Darfur, was signed Tuesday requiring the government to create safe havens in Darfur for the displaced people within 30 days.

Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said after the signing ceremony that he was confident his government could implement the plan and restore stability to the western province of Darfur, where pro-government militia called Janjaweed have been blamed for displacing about a million people.

Amnesty International also assailed Sudan's government, saying it is pressing people not to report human rights abuses in Darfur.

The government has arrested 49 people since June 30 for speaking out about rights abuses in Darfur, the London-based rights group said Tuesday. The detainees were residents of the camps for displaced people and rights activists who were arrested "simply for expressing their opinions about the situation in Darfur."

Most of them were detained after talking to foreign visitors, Amnesty said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo.

At least 15 men at a displaced people camp in el-Fasher, north Darfur, were arrested after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited the camp on June 30. Some five men from the same camp were arrested after a visit by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on July 27, Amnesty reported.

Sudanese Justice Ministry officials in Khartoum declined to comment on the Amnesty charges when contacted by the AP.

In New York, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Monday that the world body had received reports of the authorities in north Darfur "offering up to 100,000 Sudanese dinars, or nearly 400 dollars, to leaders of groups of internally displaced persons to get them to persuade the displaced people to return voluntarily to their areas of origin.

"Despite pressure, the internally displaced persons are choosing to stay put because of security concerns," Eckhard said.

In Geneva, spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the organization had received reports of an increase in rape by Janjaweed militiamen who enter camps for displaced people where the UNHCR is not represented. The Janjaweed is the Arab militia in Darfur that aid groups have accused of waging a brutal campaign against Sudanese of African origin.

Pagonis said the UNHCR had found fewer rapes were being reported to doctors in west Darfur, which "could also indicate that pressure is being exerted on displaced women not to report rapes."

Pro-government Arab militia have waged a counterinsurgency campaign that has seen widespread destruction of villages and the displacement of about 1 million people. Some 30,000 people have been killed.

Fighting is continuing between government forces with their allied Janjaweed militias and the two rebel groups in Darfur — the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement.

A U.N. Security Council resolution on July 30 demanded that the Sudanese government take steps to improve security, human rights and humanitarian assistance in Darfur and speed up a political resolution of the conflict. It also imposed a deadline of Aug. 30 for the disarmament of the Janjaweed militia.

However, the Human Rights Watch report said the Sudanese government appears to be backtracking on that timeline and is instead beginning to incorporate the Janjaweed into the official police and other security forces.

"Incorporating the Janjaweed militias into the security services and then deploying them to protect civilian 'safe areas' is the height of absurdity," said Takirambudde. "The Sudanese government needs to bring war criminals to justice, not recruit them into positions of responsibility."

The report added that claims by the government it is ending impunity through trials of Janjaweed militia are belied by growing reports most of those convicted are petty criminals.

The press office at the Sudanese Embassy in London said it had not seen the report and the ambassador, Hasan Abdin, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch said an increased international presence on the ground is urgently needed to improve the protection of civilians, assess the government's actions and stabilize the region.

It gave its support to measures by the African Union to increase is small cease-fire monitoring force from 300 to more than 2,000 troops. The Sudanese government rejected the African Union's proposal on Sunday.

"Key countries and regional groups, such as the African Union and the Arab League, should persuade Khartoum that it needs to accept international support to protect civilians and stabilize the region," said Takirambudde.

The report said the U.N. and the European Union should provide the logistical and financial support to expand the African Union force.

The report backs up claims Monday by an EU military-civilian team that visited Darfur last week that atrocities are being committed on a large scale.