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Sudan behind Darfur abuses, says U.N.

Julian Borger

International response inadequate and ineffective

— PHOTO: AFP

DISPLACED: Sudanese children outside their tents in El-Sereif refugee camp in southern Darfur region in this December 29, 2004, file picture.

London: U.N. human rights investigators have accused the Sudanese government of orchestrating ``gross and systematic'' human rights abuses in Darfur and complained that the international response has been ``inadequate and ineffective''.

``It's a damning report. It's another example of lovely words in U.N. resolutions which don't mean anything if you don't put them into action,'' said the head of the investigative team, Nobel Peace prize laureate Jody Williams.

Ms. Williams said she was hoping to deliver the report to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, but there are attempts by Islamic states supporting Khartoum to block it and order a new one.

The report they are attempting to suppress concludes that the Sudanese government ``has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes''.

Rights abuses

While rebel forces had also been guilty of serious human rights abuses, the commission found, the ``principal pattern is one of a violent counterinsurgency campaign waged by the government of Sudan in concert with Janjaweed militia'' — the Arab paramilitary group.

Last month, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued indictments against a member the Khartoum government, Ahmed Muhammed Harun, and a Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Sudanese government has blamed the violence on rebel groups and argues it is being exaggerated by the west.

The U.N. report is also scathing about the response of the international community. A small African Union (A.U.) force with a limited mandate has failed to stem the violence, and a U.N. resolution last year to send international force with more robust rules of engagement has so far only resulted in the dispatch of a few U.N. civilians. The Government in Khartoum has held up the deployment of U.N. military units.

If the Security Council does not impose targeted sanctions in the next few weeks, U.S. officials say Washington is considering a punitive package of its own, while Britain and Denmark are pressing the E.U. to formulate parallel measures.

The U.S. and British governments have also hinted at military force against Khartoum, but none of the pressure has so far brought about change in Khartoum. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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