Sudan slams UN rights expert
2008-09-17 18:05
Geneva - Sudan on Wednesday denounced an independent UN human rights official as an "agent of the European Union" after she criticised Khartoum's human rights record in the conflict-riven region of Darfur.
"The special rapporteur on Sudan, Miss Sima Samar, has demonstrated that she is an agent of the European Union," Sudan's ambassador in Geneva, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, told the UN Human Rights Council.
In her report to the council, which was released on September 9, Samar slammed Sudan's "grim" human rights record and accused the government in Khartoum of affording impunity to rights abusers.
She highlighted "indiscriminate" and "disproportionate" bombing of civilians by Sudanese forces in the east of Darfur, as well as ongoing sexual violence and a wave of arbitrary arrests and disappearances.
But the Sudanese ambassador said these claims were unfounded and that the human rights situation in all of Sudan apart from Darfur was "marvellous".
"If Sudan is totally devoid of human rights then how can she (Samar) fly into Sudan, and travel to cities safe... enjoying good sleep in hotels and even visits with prisoners?" Ukec asked.
"Let Sima Samar do (a) report on Afghanistan ... or in Iraq if she will ever get out of the Green Zone," he added.
Ukec said that Human Rights Council had been "hijacked" by the European Union and that countries such as Britain and France were seeking to reimpose a colonialist agenda.
"We have not forgotten what France has done in Algeria, Vietnam and inhumane treatment in colonies in recent past," he said.
"France talks of human rights, while it accommodates those who terrorise innocent people in Darfur. It talks of impunity, but those who rape women, kill peacekeepers they accommodate in five star hotels in Paris," he charged.
Ukec - a former rebel from the south of the country who now sits in the national unity government - said last week that rebel groups were to blame for the continued unrest in Darfur.
"The rebels are causing the problems all the time," Ukec said, claiming that they positioned themselves amongst civilians.
"We do not target schools, civilians or anyone else," he said, but added that Sudanese forces would continue to attack rebel groups such as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) who have not signed up to a ceasefire agreement.
The United Nations says up to 300 000 people have died, and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes, since the Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003. Sudan says 10 000 have been killed.