Sudan Tuesday rejected as invalid the findings of a United
Nations human rights mission which accused Khartoum of
orchestrating and taking part in gross violations in Darfur.
?
The team, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, was
asked to investigate charges of widespread abuse in Darfur, where
observers say some 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2
million driven from their homes since revolt broke out in 2003.
Sudan's Justice Minister Mohamed Ali Elmardi also told the UN's
Human Rights Council, which had dispatched the mission, that the
humanitarian situation in Sudan's vast western region was "much
more stable now".
The minister said all the UN team's original five members had
not taken part in the mission, which traveled to the region last
month but was not allowed into Darfur, and that this meant it was
"no longer valid".
"We therefore strongly and resolutely oppose any consideration
by this esteemed Council of any report that comes out of this
mission," he said in remarks to the 47-state Council.
The United States urged Sudan on Tuesday to accept the
deployment of an international force in the troubled Darfur region
and threatened punitive measures if the Sudanese government does
not do so.
"To the extent that Sudan continues to frustrate implementation
of this agreement, the US and other members of the international
community are going to have to think seriously about implementing
additional measures to deal with the humanitarian crisis in
Darfur," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said at a
briefing.
The UN Security Council has passed a resolution to deploy
peacekeeping forces in the Darfur region. However, Sudanese
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir sent a letter to the UN this month
and wanted to restrict the movements of the international
force.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and some 2 million
displaced because of the armed conflicts in Darfur.
(China Daily via agencies, Xinhua News Agency March 14,
2007)
