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.

“How can an international community which claims to uphold human rights allow this horror to continue?” Mr Annan said.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir claimed recently that only 9,000 people had been killed since the conflict in Darfur began in 2003.

The campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged the council to take a firm stance and not be swayed by a “disturbing” propaganda campaign waged by Sudan’s government.

“I think what’s particularly disturbing about it is the support [Sudan’s] managed to rally among some sectors of the international community ... it’s a symptom of the very problem of Darfur, and why Darfur has not been addressed properly for three years,” HRW spokesman Leslie Lefkow said.

The conflict has caused some two million people to flee their homes, and there are signs it is spilling over into neighbouring countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic.

Over the weekend, 22 civilians were killed and 10 wounded when gunmen ambushed a vehicle in Sirba, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. The Sudanese government blamed the attack on rebels.