VIOLATIONS IN DARFUR MAY CONSTITUTE WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, SAYS UN RIGHTS OFFICE REPORT

7 May 2004


Darfur is the scene of disturbing patterns of massive human rights violations, many of which may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity, a report issued today by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concludes.

“It is clear that there is a reign of terror in Darfur”, where the Sudanese Government is facing a rebellion, acting High Commissioner Bertrand Ramcharan writes. “[T]he current pattern of massive and gross human rights violations raises very serious concerns as to the survival, security and human dignity of those who have remained in Darfur”.

According to the report, based on visits by an OHCHR team to refugee camps in Chad and to Sudan, including to Darfur itself and Khartoum between April and May, the situation in the western Sudanese region is characterized by, among other things:

· repeated attacks on civilians by Government of Sudan military and its proxy militia forces, particularly the Jamjaweed;
· the use of disproportionate force by the Government of Sudan and Janjaweed forces;
· total impunity for the Janjaweed, who have operated in close coordination with the forces of the Government of Sudan,
· a pattern of attacks that includes killing, rape, pillage, including of livestock, and destruction of property, including water sources.

Rebels in the region -- the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and later the Justice and Equality Movement -- initiated the latest conflict and have also been in violation of human rights and humanitarian law, according to the report. The document refers to an incident in which rebels launched an attack using a hospital as cover, and of the recent execution of a tribal leader by the rebels, apparently because he accepted humanitarian assistance from the Government.

The OHCHR team found that what appears to have been an ethnically-based rebellion has been met with an ethnically-based response building in large part on long-standing, but largely hitherto contained, tribal rivalries. The report concludes that the attacks appear to have been largely ethnically based, with the Zaghawas, Masaalit and Fur the main targets.

“The patterns of violence point to an intent on the part of the Sudanese authorities to subjugate those populations perceived to be providing a support base for rebels”, according to the report.

Among his recommendations, the acting High Commissioner calls on the Government of Sudan publicly and unequivocally to condemn all actions and crimes committed by the Janjaweed and ensure that all militias are immediately disarmed and disbanded. He also urges full and unimpeded access for humanitarian workers in Darfur in order to ensure that there is no blockage in the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance. Such measures are urgent given the fact that the rainy season is approaching.

The acting High Commissioner also calls for an international commission of inquiry whose mandate would include identifying precisely what crimes have been committed, as well as the perpetrators of these crimes, their commanders and their accomplices. He urges the Government of Sudan to permit the deployment by the United Nations, and the African Union if desired, of human rights monitors in Darfur.

Mr. Ramcharan will be briefing the United Nations Security Council in New York today on the findings in the report.

The report will be available shortly on the OHCHR website (www.ohchr.org). For more information, contact press-info@ohchr.org.