Sudan
08.04.04
Urgent Interventions
Sudan: the spectre of genocide looms again, ten years on from Rwanda
PRESS RELEASE
For the attention of the Press
Geneva, April 7th, 2004
Sudan: the spectre of genocide looms again, ten years on from Rwanda
On the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, in which up to a million persons were killed and half a million women and girls were raped, the situation in Sudan , more particularly the region of Darfur, is of particular concern. Yesterday, OMCT released an urgent appeal concerning the mass extra-judicial executions, torture and arrests of 168 persons belonging to the Fur tribe in the region of Darfur. Today it has received information concerning the aerial bombardment of Mahajrea village, on April 4th, 2004, in east Nyala, Southern Darfur State, by two helicopter gunships and an Antonov military aircraft, resulting in the death of at least four persons, including two 15-year old children. These cases are part of a systematic pattern of violations, which OMCT believes may amount to a policy of ethnic cleansing in which the Government of Sudan is complicit.
In the first case mentioned above, officers from the military intelligence service and leaders of the Janjaweed (armed men on horses) armed militia, who are reportedly supported by the Government, arrested 168 people all belonging to the Fur tribe from the villages of Zaray, Fairgo, Tairgo and Kaskildo (south of Garsilla, Wadi Salih province) for alleged involvement with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). These persons were tortured and then summarily executed by a firing squad, without recourse to even the most basic judicial procedures, between March 5th and 7th, 2004, at the security offices in Delaij, Wadi Salih province, Western Darfur State. The names of 118 of these persons, as well as more in-depth background information concerning the ongoing conflict and the deterioration of the situation in Darfur, can be found at SDN060404A.pdf.
The gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law being perpetrated in Darfur by Government forces and Government-backed militias systematically target persons from the ethnic African Fur communities including the Masalit, Dajo, Tunjur, Tama and Zaghawas tribes. OMCT has documented a number of cases of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions, abductions of children, torture, rape, extra-judicial executions and indiscriminate attacks on villages resulting in the deaths of scores of civilians. OMCT has also received reports of the burning, destruction and looting of villages leading to the displacement of large numbers of people. The ongoing conflict has led to what has been characterised as being amongst the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, with up to a million displaced persons, of which over 100,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad since early 2003. OMCT fears that, without appropriate action by the international community and the Government itself, the situation may deteriorate further.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his speech on April 7th, 2004, concerning the genocide in Rwanda, noted with concern the situation in Darfur and launched an Action Plan to Prevent Genocide involving the whole United Nations system, summarized under five headings, including: preventing armed conflict; the protection of civilians in armed conflict; the ending of impunity; early and clear warning; and the need for swift and decisive action when, despite all efforts, it was learned that genocide was happening, or was about to happen. OMCT is of the opinion that the situation prevailing in Darfur calls for such swift and decisive action.
”Whatever terms it used to describe the situation, the international community could not stand idle,” he stated. At the invitation of the Sudanese Government, Mr. Annan proposed to send a high-level team to Darfur to gain a fuller understanding of the extent and nature of this crisis, and to seek improved access to those in need of assistance and protection, an initiative that receives OMCT’s full support.
Furthermore, OMCT recalls that on March 26th, 2004, eight experts from the United Nations Human Rights Commission: the Special Rapporteurs on torture; on violence against women; on racism; on the right to health; on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions; on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography; on the right to food; and the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons, released a joint press statement in which they expressed their grave concerns about the “scale of reported human rights abuses and at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Darfur”. Furthermore, the top United Nations official in the country has described the situation as “possibly the world’s hottest war”’, characterized by a campaign of ethnic cleansing “comparable in character, if not scale, to the Rwanda genocide.” Further to this, OMCT has been alerted to the fact that the situation in the east of the country risks becoming the next scene of such conflict, if the situation in Darfur is not addressed with all urgency.
OMCT would like to mark the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda with an urgent call directed at the international community to take all measures necessary to ensure that the dangerous downward spiral in Darfur is halted and reversed, through swift and decisive action, as suggest by Mr. Kofi Annan. OMCT repeats its appeal for the UN Human Rights Commission to adopt a resolution under Item 9 and to appoint a Special Rapporteur concerning human rights in Sudan. The organisation also calls on the Government of Sudan to invite high-level UN team to Darfur and to immediately put a halt to operations against civilians in Darfur by its forces and all Government-backed militias, as these amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity against the so-called African communities in the region.
OMCT Contact: Michael Anthony + 4122 809.49.39, omct@omct.org
For the attention of the Press
Geneva, April 7th, 2004
Sudan: the spectre of genocide looms again, ten years on from Rwanda
On the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, in which up to a million persons were killed and half a million women and girls were raped, the situation in Sudan , more particularly the region of Darfur, is of particular concern. Yesterday, OMCT released an urgent appeal concerning the mass extra-judicial executions, torture and arrests of 168 persons belonging to the Fur tribe in the region of Darfur. Today it has received information concerning the aerial bombardment of Mahajrea village, on April 4th, 2004, in east Nyala, Southern Darfur State, by two helicopter gunships and an Antonov military aircraft, resulting in the death of at least four persons, including two 15-year old children. These cases are part of a systematic pattern of violations, which OMCT believes may amount to a policy of ethnic cleansing in which the Government of Sudan is complicit.
In the first case mentioned above, officers from the military intelligence service and leaders of the Janjaweed (armed men on horses) armed militia, who are reportedly supported by the Government, arrested 168 people all belonging to the Fur tribe from the villages of Zaray, Fairgo, Tairgo and Kaskildo (south of Garsilla, Wadi Salih province) for alleged involvement with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). These persons were tortured and then summarily executed by a firing squad, without recourse to even the most basic judicial procedures, between March 5th and 7th, 2004, at the security offices in Delaij, Wadi Salih province, Western Darfur State. The names of 118 of these persons, as well as more in-depth background information concerning the ongoing conflict and the deterioration of the situation in Darfur, can be found at SDN060404A.pdf.
The gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law being perpetrated in Darfur by Government forces and Government-backed militias systematically target persons from the ethnic African Fur communities including the Masalit, Dajo, Tunjur, Tama and Zaghawas tribes. OMCT has documented a number of cases of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions, abductions of children, torture, rape, extra-judicial executions and indiscriminate attacks on villages resulting in the deaths of scores of civilians. OMCT has also received reports of the burning, destruction and looting of villages leading to the displacement of large numbers of people. The ongoing conflict has led to what has been characterised as being amongst the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, with up to a million displaced persons, of which over 100,000 have fled into neighbouring Chad since early 2003. OMCT fears that, without appropriate action by the international community and the Government itself, the situation may deteriorate further.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his speech on April 7th, 2004, concerning the genocide in Rwanda, noted with concern the situation in Darfur and launched an Action Plan to Prevent Genocide involving the whole United Nations system, summarized under five headings, including: preventing armed conflict; the protection of civilians in armed conflict; the ending of impunity; early and clear warning; and the need for swift and decisive action when, despite all efforts, it was learned that genocide was happening, or was about to happen. OMCT is of the opinion that the situation prevailing in Darfur calls for such swift and decisive action.
”Whatever terms it used to describe the situation, the international community could not stand idle,” he stated. At the invitation of the Sudanese Government, Mr. Annan proposed to send a high-level team to Darfur to gain a fuller understanding of the extent and nature of this crisis, and to seek improved access to those in need of assistance and protection, an initiative that receives OMCT’s full support.
Furthermore, OMCT recalls that on March 26th, 2004, eight experts from the United Nations Human Rights Commission: the Special Rapporteurs on torture; on violence against women; on racism; on the right to health; on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions; on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography; on the right to food; and the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons, released a joint press statement in which they expressed their grave concerns about the “scale of reported human rights abuses and at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Darfur”. Furthermore, the top United Nations official in the country has described the situation as “possibly the world’s hottest war”’, characterized by a campaign of ethnic cleansing “comparable in character, if not scale, to the Rwanda genocide.” Further to this, OMCT has been alerted to the fact that the situation in the east of the country risks becoming the next scene of such conflict, if the situation in Darfur is not addressed with all urgency.
OMCT would like to mark the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda with an urgent call directed at the international community to take all measures necessary to ensure that the dangerous downward spiral in Darfur is halted and reversed, through swift and decisive action, as suggest by Mr. Kofi Annan. OMCT repeats its appeal for the UN Human Rights Commission to adopt a resolution under Item 9 and to appoint a Special Rapporteur concerning human rights in Sudan. The organisation also calls on the Government of Sudan to invite high-level UN team to Darfur and to immediately put a halt to operations against civilians in Darfur by its forces and all Government-backed militias, as these amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity against the so-called African communities in the region.
OMCT Contact: Michael Anthony + 4122 809.49.39, omct@omct.org