Darfur crimes continue

2005-02-02 23:04

Khartoum - Crimes against civilians in Sudan's troubled region of Darfur are continuing while aid workers are "terrorised" and subject to arbitrary arrest, the United Nations envoy for Sudan said on Wednesday.

Jan Pronk made the bleak assessment two days after a UN panel accused the Khartoum government of gross and systematic human rights violations in Darfur, but stopped short of labelling the violence in the region as genocide.

"Crimes against civilians are still going on in Darfur region of west Sudan," he told reporters in Khartoum after a tour of Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have died in nearly two years of conflict between government forces and ethnic minority rebels.

I "saw myself burnt and destroyed houses in more than 12 villages which were attacked by militias", said the UN envoy, adding that he had raised the issue with government officials as well as rebel leaders.

Pronk said he urged them to "stop the acts of violence which are making the innocent victims".

'Self-restraint'

He said he told leaders of the Sudan Liberation Movement, one of the main rebel groups in the region, to exercise "self-restraint" and "refrain from attacking villages and civilians".

The UN envoy said he delivered a similar message to government officials, saying he urged them "to stop acts of violence" and change their attitude towards humanitarian workers, especially local staff.

"That is not the government's policy, but some in the army and other security organs terrorise relief workers and sometimes arrest them arbitrarily for unclear reasons," he explained.

"But what the rebels and bandits are doing is much worse as four or five aid workers have been killed and a number of others have been abducted recently," he noted, saying he had made that clear to the rebels.

About 70 000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur, many from hunger and disease, while about 1.5 million others have been displaced, many into squalid and dangerous camps.

- AFP