Security in Darfur a farce, says rights group

SECURITY in Sudan’s Darfur region is a “farce” with the government engaged in ethnic cleansing and rebel groups looting and abducting civilians in violation of an April cease-fire, a rights group said yesterday.

Human Rights Watch said Sudan will take it as “an all-clear sign” to keep attacking and uprooting villagers if the UN Security Council does not force Khartoum to improve security so 1.5 million people displaced by fighting can return home.

“The danger now is the ethnic cleansing will be consolidated,” Human Rights Watch’s Jemera Rone said in Nairobi. “The current situation where the government says it is providing security is a farce.”