UN expert concerned at 'human rights violations' in Sudan

A UN human rights expert, returning from a week-long mission to Sudan's troubled Darfur region, has said that “persistent insecurity and human rights violations” are continuing.

The Secretary-General’s Representative on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Francis Deng, referred to the “many accounts and reports” of rape of women outside of camps he encountered and called on the government to ensure treatment for victims while bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Mr Deng said that while many of the estimated 1.2 million IDPs in Darfur want to return to their homes eventually, they remain afraid to do so because of continued attacks by Janjaweed militias against local civilians.

Mr Deng, who is himself Sudanese, said he was disturbed that Khartoum was pressuring IDPs to return home before it was safe.

“Return will only be sustainable if the right to return voluntarily in safety and dignity is respected at all times,” he said.

Calling for “a comprehensive, peaceful and negotiated settlement” of the conflict in Darfur, where two rebel groups have been fighting government forces and the allied Janjaweed since early last year, Mr Deng said Sudan has been "riven for too long by faultlines of race, ethnicity, religion and culture".

He described a “new common and inclusive framework of national identity in which all Sudanese would find a sense of belonging as citizens with equality and dignity of citizenship".

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has begun airdrops of food to about 72,000 IDPs in Darfur who have been cut off by recent heavy rains. The first drop – consisting of corn-soya blend and lentils – took place in West Darfur yesterday.

And the World Health Organization is continuing its polio and cholera vaccination campaigns in West Darfur, where UN humanitarian agencies say there is an increased Janjaweed presence.

(gmcg)