'Sudan backs ethnic cleansing'
2004-05-13 12:31
New York - The Sudanese government is responsible for ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in Darfur, one of the world's poorest and most remote regions on the Sudan's western border with Chad, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
The Sudanese government and Arab Janjaweed gangs whom government has armed and supported, have launched several attacks on civilians and the ethnic Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups.
Janjaweed gangs - Muslims similar to the communities they have attacked - have destroyed mosques, murdered Muslim clerics and desecrated Qu'rans that belong to their rivals.
Government and its Janjaweed allies have murdered thousands of members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes, often in cold blood, they have raped women, destroyed towns and essential food supplies.
They have driven more than a million people, mostly farmers, to camps and settlements in Darfur where they battle to survive as hostages of Janjaweed abuse. More than 110 000 people have fled to Chad; the majority of victims of the Darfur conflict, however, are still trapped in Darfur.
UN News Service
Words of warning:
"I'm very concerned over the serious crisis in the Darfur region. The international community should intervene when it is told of genocide that is about to happen or that is happening." Kofi Annan, United Nations general secretary during the tenth commemorations of the Rwanda genocide on April 7 this year.
"It is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with so many cruelly chased from their homes. Everything has been taken from them. It is tragic." James Morris, UN World Food Programme executive director.
"Only immediate action can prevent the murder and expulsion of thousands more in the Sudan." - Amnesty International.