UN holds special council session on Darfur crisis

THE UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session on violations in Sudan’s strife-torn western region of Darfur today, after a rebuke from Kofi Annan that it has not paid enough attention to rights violations in the province.

Diplomats said they did not expect major progress owing to the council’s politicised nature and internal divisions.

The council has been heavily criticised by many parties, not least the outgoing UN secretary general, for its reticence on the conflict which the UN estimates has claimed over 200,000 lives.