LONDON, 22 September 2004 — Amnesty International called yesterday for an international arms embargo on Sudan, to prevent the humanitarian crisis in its Darfur region from escalating.
“We think the embargo should be against the Sudanese government because there is clear evidence that the Sudanese armed forces have been involved in committing atrocities,” Amnesty Secretary-General Irene Khan said here after returning from a week-long visit to Sudan.
There was clear evidence that government-armed Janjaweed militia were behind some of the rapes and killings, the London-based human rights organization said, adding that Darfur was “awash” with arms. The displacement of refugees from their homes in Darfur was continuing, and some members of the government were in denial regarding the humanitarian crisis there, Amnesty said.
“The picture in Darfur is one of distress, denial and disappointment. Distress of people whose lives and livelihood have been destroyed, denial of responsibility by the Sudanese government and disappointment at the slow progress to resolve this crisis,” the London-based human rights organization said.
It acknowledged that, in contrast with previous experience, the delegation was given free and full access to Darfur, visiting Al-Jeneina, Nyala and Al-Fasher and meeting senior government ministers in Khartoum and Darfur.
The delegation saw several sites where villages had been burned to the ground, or abandoned and which were now almost overgrown with vegetation and heard first-hand accounts of atrocities from displaced persons in camps and villages in western Darfur and in Nyala in southern Darfur.
“While we found engagement and admission of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by some members of the government, there was total denial by others. Such denial is insulting to the victims,” Khan said.
“The displacement of people continues — people are still being uprooted from their homes by fighting as well as by deliberate attacks on civilians,” US delegation member Bill Schulz said.
The delegation heard accounts of killings and rapes said to have been committed by the insurgents. Amnesty acknowledged the Sudanese government’s efforts to increase the number of police in Darfur by redeployment from other parts of Sudan, although they were often not properly equipped.
Refugees did not trust the government and feared returning to their homes, the delegation found. “They say they don’t feel safe in the camps, they say they are filled with fear outside. Every person we spoke to in the camps was adamant that they do not feel safe enough to return to their villages,” South African delegate Samkelo Mokhine said. He called for a “massive increase in monitors”.
Amnesty called on the United Nations to persuade the Sudanese government to put its weight a Plan of Action to enhance safety throughout Darfur by stopping violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, respecting the ceasefire, disarming and disbanding the militia, and ending impunity. It also demanded that the UN-backed eight “safe areas” be abandoned, as it was not working.
The delegation concluded that the humanitarian situation in Darfur remained “extremely precarious” and warned that if the crisis continued it could become a catastrophe. The Sudanese government has begun work on meeting a UN ultimatum to stem the suffering in Darfur, Khartoum newspapers reported yesterday, as officials denied reports of new fighting in the region.
Ministers began detailed consideration of Saturday’s Security Council resolution on Monday with a view to thrashing out a plan to address its demands, junior foreign minister Al-Tigani Salih Fidhail told the government-owned Al-Anbaa daily.
