U.N. Envoy Says Horrified by Fresh Darfur Attacks
By Opheera McDoom, KHARTOUM (Reuters)
On Jan 31st, I posted an article of the UN's report of continued violence in Darfur, yet stopped short of calling it genocide in order to facilitate their non-action.
Days later, we hear of the UN's local representative, horrified at the supposed "non-genocide".
Duh wuh..... a rose by any other name.
The top U.N. envoy in Sudan said he was horrified by fresh attacks in Darfur and urged both sides on Wednesday to stop fighting this month and conclude a peace agreement by the end of the year.
"Stop the fighting in February. Talk 10 months...but you should not give yourselves 10 years," envoy Jan Pronk said, referring a separate deal to end more than 20 years of civil war in southern Sudan signed last month after a decade of talks.
He told reporters that last week he visited the Labado area in the east of South Darfur state, which saw fierce fighting between the government and rebels in December, followed by what Pronk called a "systematic pattern" of attacks by militias on civilian villages in which many people died.
"I was horrified by what I saw in Labado. All huts had been demolished and burned down... All water wells have been destroyed," he said. Militias had destroyed dozens of villages around the town in a similar manner, he added.
(snip)
But it said government and military officials and allied Arab militia leaders were responsible for widespread abuses which may constitute crimes against humanity.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the two-year-old rebellion and more than 1.8 million have fled their homes. Thousands die every month in camps for the displaced.
Pronk said one of the most worrying points of the report was that these human rights abuses were continuing during the investigation, between November and January.
For a slightly different take on the same story with a different voice and added quotes, Mohamed Osman of the AP writes in his article appearing today,
The U.N. envoy said he also visited Hamada, a South Darfur town destroyed last month, reportedly by rebels. He said unidentified militia were responsible, adding: "They killed many in Hamada. About 100 people have been killed — 80 of them were women and children."
Notice that, in both articles, Mr. Pronk is well schooled in the nomenclature of the int'l body, being careful to call the systematic murders of non-Arabs/Muslims, including women and children, "human rights abuses". The UN is pressing that the perpetrators be turned over to the infamous ICC for punishment.
Fat load of good that will do for those still fighting for their lives. How long has it been since Kosovo? And Milosovic still has not had a judgement.
All in all, one must wonder when UN "horror" and "human rights abuses" finally translates to a word that will require the UN to act. As usual with the int'l body, it is all talk, and no action.
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