Headlines

POLITICS: Rights Groups Urge U.N. Action on Sudan

Julia Spurzem

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29 2005 (IPS) - Sudanese officials and rebel leaders from Darfur started a seventh round of peace talks Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria, as human rights activists have stepped up lobbying at the United Nations to bring sanctions against the government in Khartoum.

Sudanese officials and rebel leaders from Darfur started a seventh round of peace talks Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria, as human rights activists have stepped up lobbying at the United Nations to bring sanctions against the government in Khartoum.

The talks were delayed for one week to allow mediation between two leaders of the main rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), who both claim the presidency of the movement. Both rebel leaders agreed to attend the talks and the African Union (AU) flew them to Abuja, where the seventh round of the AU-sponsored talks will open.

Six previous rounds have agreed on little other than a declaration of principles between the two main Darfur rebel groups and the government. Observers have said they see little hope for success for this round after a split in the SLA leadership earlier this month. But the AU still hopes for progress.

A statement issued by the AU Peace and Security Council said that the AU will “consider future appropriate measures, including sanctions, to be taken against any party that will undermine or constitute an obstacle to the peace process in Darfur”.

Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, went to the country to meet with different groups involved in the conflict. He hoped that the two SLA leaders would attend the talks in Abuja.

The priority was to have an agreement with a signature “that means something”, he said. Pronk delivered a message to both leaders of the SLA, saying “you have to come together to negotiate for the sake of your people”.

But human rights activists note that the humanitarian situation in Darfur has not improved in the last month, and urge the United Nations to enforce sanctions against the Sudanese government, which has failed to disarm the militias, end impunity and protect civilians.

“The protection of civilians has not improved one bit in spite of several resolutions passed at the Security Council,” Georgette Gagnon, deputy director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, said at a recent press briefing at the U.N.

Together with Sali Mahmoud Osman, a lawyer with the Sudan Organisation Against Torture, who works with victims of human rights abuses in the troubled region, Gagnon talked about the present situation in Darfur and the role of the U.N. in ending the conflict.

Osman says that the situation in Darfur has not improved because resolutions have not been implemented. “This is the most important thing. Without the implementation, it seems that the international community is not serious about the situation,” he told IPS.

Osman called on the United States and other Security Council members to end what he described as a “deadlock” in the sanctions process. He criticised three members – China, Russia and Algeria – for blocking Security Council attempts to bring sanctions against the Khartoum government or the government-backed militias.

“China, Russia and Algeria do not care very much about the humanitarian situation in Darfur,” said Osman.

He and Human Rights Watch are focusing on other powerful members of the Security Council, like the U.S. and Britain, to take control of the plan and ensure the three member states will not block the sanctions.

Member states should also condemn the prospect that Sudan will take over the presidency of the African Union in January, activists say. “It is our strong view that this should not happen,” said Gagnon. “Finally, the decision lies within the African Union itself.”

Earlier this month, the directors of Human Rights Watch’s Africa and Washington divisions sent an open letter to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who recently met with various factions to the conflict in Kenya.

The letter urged Zoellick to demand the Sudanese government’s full cooperation with outside monitoring and relief agencies, and to call on the government to demonstrate its commitment to human rights and peace through actions rather than words.

“We urge you to ensure that the U.S. government plays a lead role at the U.N. Security Council in producing a resolution to this effect,” the letter said.

Osman also wants to get the focus back on Darfur. “There should be a raising of awareness. Some people think that because there are no massive attacks, that is the end of the story, but it is not,” he told IPS.

The genocide is still continuing, he adds. And even though the U.N. has done something very good and important, “the U.N. should not let Darfur off the radar screen”, he said.

During the nearly three-year conflict in Sudan, tens of thousands people have been killed and more than two million forced to leave their homes.

The latest report of Secretary-General Annan on Darfur says that critical elements of a coordinated approach to peace in the region should include not only repairing the rift between the factions, but also consultations between the AU mediating team and the Sudanese parties over a power-sharing commission for the region.