GENEVA, 23 April 2004 — A vote at the United Nations’ top human rights forum on alleged abuses in Sudan was again delayed yesterday amid accusations over who leaked a report that claims government-backed militias have committed atrocities in the western Darfur region.
The crunch debate at the UN’s Commission on Human Rights on what is being called the world’s current worst humanitarian crisis would take place today to give delegations further time for consultations, a UN spokesman said. The 53-member commission had initially been due to vote last week on a draft resolution condemning widespread violence in Sudan, he added.
In another twist, members of the assembly demanded an investigation into the leak of a report on the situation in the country, Africa’s largest in geographical terms, by a team of UN experts who visited neighboring Chad but were barred at first from entering Sudan.
The report, submitted Monday to the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan, had been due for official publication on Tuesday.
But Ramcharan delayed releasing the findings, which are based on interviews with Sudanese refugees who had fled to Chad from Darfur, after Khartoum reversed an earlier decision to block his team from entering the country.
A copy of the text identifying “patterns of massive human rights violations in Darfur,” was leaked to the media, sparking anger at the commission.
“Is this a report from the Secretariat from which there was a leak from the media?” a diplomat from Bahrain demanded at the Geneva-based forum.
Ramcharan took the floor, denying his office had anything to do with the leak and defending his decision to keep the document under wraps for security reasons while his team - which was en route to Darfur yesterday - was on the ground.
“I also felt I should give the team an opportunity to look at the situation first hand and to review the document they had submitted to me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sudanese peace talks are in limbo after main southern rebel leader John Garang left the venue yesterday and officials said he would only return when the government’s top negotiator rejoins the discussions. The government’s representative, First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha left the talks venue in the Kenyan town of Naivasha on Saturday. Officials said at the time he would return after two days, but it is still not clear when he will do so.
The government and Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army rebels are in the final stages of talks intended to end a war which has killed about two million people in the oil- producing country.
