Arbitrary arrest, torture and killings continue in the Darfur region of the Sudan, human rights advocates report, despite a negotiated peace settlement, international condemnation, and plans for a UN peacekeeping intervention.
Despite the Bush administration’s description of these killings as "genocide," it failed to fully support the referral of crimes committed in Darfur to the ICC, as its ideological opposition to the ICC was stronger than its opposition to genocide.
To date, human rights organizations estimate that 400,000 people have been killed and as many as 2 million have been displaced by violence led by a Sudanese government-backed militia known as the Janjaweed.
A peace agreement between the government and its political opposition led by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army has not stopped Janjaweed militiamen from attacking Darfurians suspected of supporting the anti-government opposition or who owned valuable land desired by government-linked forces.
Much of the violence has been committed by ethnically Arab militias aimed at ethnically African tribes settled in Darfur, leading some international observers to characterize the violence as ethnic cleansing and even genocide.
In the final days of March the UN Security Council adopted three resolutions related to the Darfur tragedy. It agreed to tighten sanctions against the Khartoum government, increased the number of UN peacekeeping forces, and to refer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes committed by Janjaweed militias and government officials involved in mass killings.
Despite the Bush administration’s description of these killings as "genocide," it failed to fully support the referral to the ICC, as its ideological opposition to the ICC was stronger than its opposition to genocide.
Several weeks later, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution, described by human rights organization Human Rights First as "disturbingly silent regarding the responsibility of the Sudanese government for grave crimes in Darfur."
Human Rights First expressed further dismay at the weak UNCHR resolution because it doesn’t address the Sudanese "government’s inability or unwillingness to hold accountable individual perpetrators of such crimes" or its obligation to cooperate with the ICC.
"It backs away from the findings by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Commission of Inquiry that crimes against humanity were committed in Darfur and the Sudanese government bears responsibility," John Stompor of Human Rights First added.
Other organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch generally concurred with this assessment.
The US’s influence on final draft of the UNCHR resolution is clearly visible. While this watered down criticism of the Sudanese government was being prepared and adopted, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick traveled to the Sudan for talks with the Sudanese government in a surprisingly friendly gesture with a government the US had just months before characterized as involved with genocidal militia forces.
Meanwhile, reports of continued killings, displacement and torture emerge almost daily. In late April, dozens of women living in four refugee camps in Darfur that house nearly 63,000 people driven from their homes by government-back Janjaweed militia, told UN refugee officials that they were afraid to return to their homes and even feared for their safety inside the refugee camps.
According to a UN News Service story, one women stated, "There are people who are armed and they kill us, they rape us and they rob us. They are the Janjaweed." Up to 200,000 Darfurians have fled to the neighboring country of Chad.
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People who did return to their homes after peace agreements were announced and international attention focused on Darfur promised to stop the violence, did so "without adequate food, or proper health and education services," reports the IRIN news agency.
Food and water shortages are compounded by exposure to weather, poor access to health care, and overpopulation due to the presence of tens of thousands of displaced persons. World Health Organization experts estimate that infant mortality in the southern parts of the Sudan, where the conflict has been mainly focused, is about 20 percent higher than in the north.
While humanitarian problems have received some attention, atrocities seem to have slipped under the radar. The Sudan Organization Against Torture (SOAT) reports that from mid-March into late April, arrests and torture by Sudanese government officials aimed at people they believe to be supporters of the political opposition continued.
SOAT reported kidnappings and beatings by military intelligence in Nyala in Southern Darfur of refugee men suspected of aiding the Sudan Liberation Army. SOAT described the arrests as "arbitrary" and the use of torture as "systematic."
SOAT also reported that despite the UN’s condemnation of the Janjaweed’s activities, it continued its operations as well. Members of the Zaghawa tribe in Nyala, Darfur were kidnapped, beaten, and shot to death by Janjaweed forces at a government military camp.
At least one victim who was not killed was brought to a Sudanese military camp where he was tortured and charged with supporting the political opposition and handed over to the police. These events show the continuing cooperation between the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government – even after the UN Security Council condemned the atrocities in Darfur.
Just days after these events, SOAT reports, on April 7th a Janjaweed band of about 200 attacked and looted the Hejair Tono Village in Nyala, Darfur. A number of civilians were killed and wounded. One wounded man was later arrested by government security officers and has been held in custody without charges.
In mid-April, the Sudan Human Rights Organization publicized secret military trials of Sudanese military officials who apparently were arrested, possibly tortured, detained without access to lawyers, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment for sympathy for the victims of the mass killings of Darfurians. The trumped-up charges were that the imprisoned people were plotting to overthrow the government.
Continuing reports of atrocities and humanitarian crisis has led some human rights activists in the US to call for urgent intervention "in Darfur to protect the people and facilitate the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance."
This view was adopted by Africa Action as it announced continued public protests against the failure to act to stop what it calls "ongoing genocide in Darfur." Africa Action predicts that as many as 1 million people may die by the end of the year without urgent and immediate intervention in support of the African Union’s operations.
--Reach Joel Wendland at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net.
