KHARTOUM, 11 August 2004 — Sudanese President Omar Bashir yesterday lashed out at Western powers, charging in a televised speech that the international community’s humanitarian concerns over war-torn Darfur were merely a fig leaf for plans to plunder the region’s wealth. “America and Europe harbor objectives that do not include the safety and prosperity of the people of Darfur ... they are in search of gold and petroleum,” he said.
Bashir and his government have come under a barrage of criticism from Western governments and human rights groups for unleashing marauding militias on indigenous ethnic minorities in Darfur since the launch of a rebellion there early last year.
Two Saudi teams are currently visiting Darfur to assess the humanitarian crisis in the region. Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, who leads the MWL delegation, attended a meeting of intellectuals and emphasized that Darfur problem could be solved by its people through dialogue and reconciliation.
Turki said the International Islamic Relief Organization, an affiliate of MWL, had repatriated 15,000 refugees, distributed 500 tons of emergency relief supplies and constructed 200 wells in the region. IIRO also set up four clinics, supplied five tons of medicine and gave 3,000 tents. Turki offered MWL’s support to restore peace in the region.
The MWL delegation met with leaders of three factions who expressed their desire to end bloodbath. The delegation also launched IIRO’s relief program for the region and visited a refugee camp in Abu Shouk, where 44,000 people are accommodated in 8,000 tents.
Earlier, Human Rights Watch said that continuing atrocities against civilians in Darfur bear witness to the Sudanese government’s empty promises to reign in militia groups and restore security to the region.
In a 31-page report, the New York-based rights watchdog detailed ongoing abuses by government-backed militias — known as the Janjaweed — including the routine rape of girls as young as 13.
“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 was serious about wanting to protect civilians, it would welcome a greater international presence,” Takirambudde said.
The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan’s Army forces and the Janjaweed cracked down on a rebellion by minority tribes which erupted in Darfur in February 2003, but the government vehemently disputes that figure.
The Human Rights Watch report said the Sudanese armed forces and Janjaweed militias continued to target civilians and their livestock in rural villages, as well as in government-controlled towns and camps.
In one such attack documented in the report, a group of women and girls were stopped at a Janjaweed militia checkpoint in West Darfur in July. Militia members told them that “the country belonged to the Arabs now” and, as they were there without permission, they would be punished. All of the women were then beaten, and six girls aged 13 to 16 were raped.
“Despite growing global attention to the crisis in Darfur, neither the international community nor the Sudanese government has taken the steps needed to ensure protection for civilians on the ground,” Takirambudde said. “Rape, assaults and looting continue daily even as more people are being driven from their homes,” he added.
Other aid agencies also alleged that the Sudanese government was putting pressure on displaced people in the Darfur region to return to their home villages despite continuing violence, but said this fell short of intimidation. “In west Darfur, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is concerned that the local authorities and government of Sudan are continuing to put pressure on displaced people to return to villages,” UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said in Geneva.
However, the refugee agency said there was no evidence that violence or intimidation was being used to force villagers home. Pagonis told journalists that the villages “are not safe and do not offer any possibility of decent life, since most crops have been destroyed by rampaging militia”.
Sudanese government authorities have been offering up to $400 to tribal leaders to persuade people who had sought refuge in camps to go home, the UN said on Monday in New York. Khartoum had stationed policemen in empty villages in an attempt to persuade displaced people that it was safe to go back, Pagonis said.
“However, displaced people tell us they are not reassured by government policemen and do not feel the time is yet right for their return home,” she added. One group of villagers interviewed by UNHCR in hospital had been attacked after returning to their homes, although they said they were told it was protected.
