Posted on 27-4-2004
News Blackout Hiding Sudan Atrocities
From oneworld.net (Image: © Human Rights Watch)
In Sudan, where one of the world's worst human rights crises
is unfolding,
no news has become bad news. While government-supported Arab
militias wage
what the United Nations calls a "scorched earth" campaign
against an
estimated 870,000 people, most of them civilians, Sudanese authorities
have imposed a news blackout, report Human Rights Watch and
Reporters
Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).
The sentencing last week of Al-Jazeera reporter Islam Salih
to one month
in prison and a fine of 1 million Sudanese pounds (approx. US$3,800)
is
the latest example of the government's attempts to cover up
the atrocities
being committed against civilians in Darfur, says RSF.
On 13 April, Salih was convicted on charges of "disseminating
false
information." Prior to his conviction, authorities had
threatened him with
punitive action if he did not tone down his coverage of Darfur
and other
human rights issues in Sudan, RSF says. Al-Jazeera's bureau
has also been
shut down by authorities. RSF is calling for Salih's immediate
release
from prison.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has urged the U.N. Commission
on Human
Rights to condemn "crimes against humanity" being
committed by government
forces and allied militias in Sudan and to re-appoint a special
rapporteur
to monitor human rights violations in the country.
The Commission was scheduled to vote on a resolution on Sudan
on 22 April
but it has been delayed.
Last year, the human rights body voted to end the 10-year mandate
of the
rapporteur on the grounds that government and rebel forces in
southern
Sudan were working towards peace.
Human Rights Watch says government forces and allied militias
have killed
thousands and forced as many as 870,000 people to flee their
homes as part
of a brutal war against rebel insurgents in Darfur. At least
120,000 of
the refugees have fled across the border to neighbouring Chad.
The primary targets are civilians who share the same ethnicity
as the
rebels, says Human Rights Watch. Villages have been bombed,
burned and
looted, and thousands have been murdered and raped.
Last week, authorities also denied U.N. human rights experts
access to
Darfur when they requested permission to visit the region. They
have since
been allowed into Darfur.
Read Human Rights Watch's detailed report on Darfur:
http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0404/
For updates on the situation in Sudan, visit:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/42/
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