'No genocide' in Darfur
2005-01-20 14:24
Khartoum - An official Sudanese committee of inquiry has determined that serious human rights abuses have been committed in the troubled Darfur region but rejected claims of ethnic cleansing and systematic rape.
"Serious human rights violations took place in the three states of Darfur, in which all parties to the conflict were involved to varying degrees, thus leading to human suffering of the people of Darfur, causing internal displacement and people taking refuge in neighbouring Chad," the committee said.
The international community and human rights groups have long raised concerns about the situation in Darfur, where ethnic rebels have been fighting the government and its allied militias since February 2003.
But the committee report unveiled on Wednesday added: "What had happened in Darfur despite its graveness did not constitute a genocide crime.
Not a crime against humanity
"The commission has concluded that incidents of rape and sexual abuses took place in the various states of Darfur but it has not been proven to the commission that there was systematic and widespread abuse that would constitute a crime against humanity," the report said.
An uprising begun by ethnic minority rebels in early 2003 prompted the government in Khartoum to launch a bloody crackdown by Arab militias that Washington has said amounted to genocide.
Around 70 000 people are estimated to have died in the past several months alone, according to figures from the United Nations and aid agencies. Some 1.5 million more have fled their homes, many seeking refuge beyond Sudan's borders.