Situation in Darfur, Sudan is worsening, UN genocide expert warns

Just back from the troubled Darfur region of Sudan, the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide warned today that the situation there is worsening and called for action to protect civilians, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and bring those responsible before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Juan Mendez noted that it was not for him to determine whether genocide had taken place, but said “we have not turned the corner” on preventing genocide from either happening or happening again – depending on the perspective – in Darfur.

Mr. Mendez said he had expected that the situation would have stabilized, if only in a status quo that was unacceptable but at least not worsening. “Unfortunately, I have to say that I found the situation much more dangerous and worrisome than I expected it to be,” he said, citing renewed fighting, especially in north and south Darfur, among all factions.

He also pointed to growing lawlessness evidenced by two recent unprecedented attacks on camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). “In one of them, the attackers went in on horseback, and in the other one apparently trucks of the Sudanese army,” he said. Up to 35 civilians were killed, while many huts and houses were destroyed.

He called this “an escalation of violence against civilians that points to how serious the situation is becoming.”

The expert called for enhanced protection of civilians as well as the provision of humanitarian assistance, noting that the delivery of relief aid had recently been complicated by violence.

On the issue of accountability, he said “we have to insist that cooperation with the ICC is not a matter of choice for any State.”

He pointed out that Sudan said it does not need the ICC and would instead use its own court, but chided the Khartoum Government for dealing ineffectively with the problem.

“We observed the first decisions and trials of the special court that they have created and we’re very disappointed they deal with cases that are completely marginal to the problem, that have nothing to do with what happened at the peak of the conflict in 2003-2004, and that there is no clear rationale for crimes that seem to be common crimes have been brought to the Special Court.”

He voiced hope that the Abuja peace talks would yield a framework to meet the urgent need to end the underlying conflict that has caused so much suffering in Darfur. At the same time, he urged inter-communal conversations among ethnic communities that are now “pitched against one another.”

Mr. Mendez called for separating the perpetrators of wrongdoing and crimes against humanity from the communities that they claim to have represented. “We need to have authentic representation of all communities to start talking about reconciliation.”

That process must deal with such issues as land tenure and land use, he added. “Right now there is a lot of animosity and a lot of possibility even of taking up arms in a cycle of communal retribution that would be very dangerous and could be at least as dangerous as the events of 2003-2004.”

Asked if he would brief the Security Council, Mr. Mendez said Secretary-General Kofi Annan had requested that he brief the Council, adding that he was available to do so.