urges Sudan to reject ethnic divisions and provide security
Just back from a week-long mission to Sudans troubled Darfur region – scene of what is currently considered the worlds worst humanitarian crisis – a United Nations rights expert Monday called for the country to foster a national identity based on inclusiveness and not race, culture or religion.
Francis M. Deng, the Secretary-Generals Representative on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), said he found that Darfur was beset by “persistent insecurity and human rights violations” during his tour of the region last week.
In particular, he cited “many accounts and reports” of rape of women outside of camps, and called on the Government to ensure treatment for the victims while bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Mr. Deng said that while many of the estimated 1,2 million IDPs in Darfur want to return to their homes eventually, they remain afraid to do so because of continued attacks by Janjaweed militias against local civilians.
Mr. Deng, who is himself Sudanese, said he was disturbed that Khartoum was pressuring IDPs to return home before it was safe. – Return will only be sustainable if the right to return voluntarily in safety and dignity is respected at all times,” he said, adding that the insecurity is the biggest concern of the IDPs.
Calling for “a comprehensive, peaceful and negotiated settlement” of the conflict in Darfur, where two rebel groups have been fighting Government forces and the allied Janjaweed since early last year, Mr. Deng said Sudan has been riven for too long by faultlines of race, ethnicity, religion and culture.
He described a “new common and inclusive framework of national identity in which all Sudanese would find a sense of belonging as citizens with equality and dignity of citizenship.” – Resisting this unfolding reality would be imprudent, unsustainable and self-defeating, he warned.
Mr. Deng said that although he was heartened by Khartoums vows to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations in Darfur, and to improve access for humanitarian workers, much more still needed to be done.
His comments came as Jan Pronk, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Sudan, visited Khartoum for a meeting of the Joint Implementation Mechanism (JIM).
Mr. Pronk and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail are co-chairs of JIM, which was set up by Sudan and the UN to ensure compliance with commitments made by both sides in a joint communiqué on 3 July.
JIM is meeting this week to discuss the report of an observer mission of UN staff, Sudanese officials and representatives of concerned countries, which visited Darfur early last week.
That mission was attempting to verify whether Sudan was meeting its pledges to disarm the Janjaweed and restore security to Darfur, a vast, impoverished region in the west of the country.
Kilde: FNs nyhedstjeneste
