Human Rights Watch Report, Darfur

A displaced Sudanese woman is seen at the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced persons in Al Fasher, northern Darfur.

While international attention has focused on the Sudanese elections and the referendum on Southern Sudan, Darfur remains in shambles. The new fighting and rights abuses across Darfur show clearly that the war is far from over and that the UN needs to do more to protect civilians.

Rona Peligal, Africa director (New York) - Intensified fighting between the Sudanese government and rebel forces in 2010 has caused many hundreds of deaths and mass displacements in Darfur and should prompt the United Nations to ensure that international peacekeepers strengthen protection for civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the Darfur peacekeeping mission in late July 2010.

Fighting among rebel groups and between rival armed ethnic groups has also contributed to the rise in the violence. In May alone, 600 people in Darfur died as a result of these various conflicts, according to the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

"While international attention has focused on the Sudanese elections and the referendum on Southern Sudan, Darfur remains in shambles," said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The new fighting and rights abuses across Darfur show clearly that the war is far from over and that the UN needs to do more to protect civilians."

Fighting between government and rebel forces in Darfur intensified after the February peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) unraveled. Government soldiers and allied militias targeted civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law, during clashes with rebel groups in the Jebel Mun and Jebel Mara areas of Darfur, which continued through June in some locations.

Witnesses and victims of attacks reported to Human Rights Watch that government forces killed and raped civilians, destroyed homes, and bombed water supplies, forcing the displacement of thousands of civilians.

The attacks included government aerial bombing in and around Jebel Mun in late April and early May. Accounts from witnesses suggest the bombs were directed at places near water where civilians gathered. In one incident on April 29, bombs reportedly killed nine civilians in Girgigirgi, a village 15 kilometers east of Jebel Mun.

One man, whose daughter was killed by one of the bombs, said: "I saw smoke coming from the water point following the bombing. I knew that my daughters, Zainab, age 13, and Magbula, age 9, were at the pump to collect water for the day. I ran to the pump and saw Zeinab was bleeding from several places in her body and Magbula was already dead. I could not even look at her burned body. I sat on the ground trying to hold my tears."

Armed clashes in other parts of Darfur and inter-ethnic fighting in South and West Darfur also caused civilian casualties, destruction of homes, and mass displacements this year, according to UN and local sources interviewed by Human Rights Watch. The full impact of the fighting on civilians has not been fully documented because the government and rebels have repeatedly denied peacekeepers and humanitarian aid groups access to affected areas.

"Hundreds of civilians are dying, and peacekeepers in many cases aren't even able to reach the populations at risk," Peligal said. "The Sudanese government needs to end attacks on civilians and take immediate steps to improve the peacekeepers' access to affected areas. The peacekeepers should make access to these areas a top priority."

Since the deployment of the hybrid peacekeeping force in January 2008, both government and rebel forces have repeatedly prevented its missions from assessing conditions. Under the Status of Forces Agreement, the Sudanese government is required to give peacekeepers unfettered freedom of movement in Darfur. Banditry and attacks on the peacekeepers and on humanitarian groups have also limited their movement, with three peacekeepers killed and two international humanitarian workers kidnapped in June alone. Sudanese authorities have failed to prosecute those responsible for such attacks.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating and prosecuting crimes in Darfur and has issued arrest warrants for President Omar al-Bashir; Ahmed Haroun, the current governor of South Kordofan state; and Ali Kosheib, a "Janjaweed" militia leader whose real name is Ali Mohammed Ali. The Sudanese government has refused to cooperate with the ICC, and the suspects, who are wanted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, remain at large. An additional warrant for genocide was issued on July 12 for al-Bashir. Three Darfuri rebel leaders have appeared voluntarily at the ICC in response to a summons in connection with an attack on an African Union base in Haskanita, Darfur.

The government dramatically reduced the presence of humanitarian aid groups in March 2009, when it expelled 13 organizations following the ICC's arrest warrant for al-Bashir. Since then, joint UN-government needs assessments have not been independent or comprehensive or included human rights concerns. On July 15, three days after the warrant for genocide against al-Bashir was issued, the government ordered staff members of another international aid organization to leave the country.

The expulsions, combined with access restrictions, have created an information vacuum about the security and human rights situation in Darfur. Although Human Rights Watch has documented attacks that occurred months ago, the UN has yet to report publicly about them. The peacekeeping force's human rights section in particular should increase the frequency of its public reporting through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and evaluate government progress against the benchmarks established by the Human Rights Council's group of experts on Darfur in 2007.

Assistance to displaced people should be facilitated in a manner that maintains the neutrality of the peacekeeping mission and protects the right of displaced people to return voluntarily, and these efforts should not overshadow the peacekeepers' essential role of protecting civilians and providing security, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch urged the UNAMID peacekeeping mission to intensify its patrols around displaced persons' camps and settlements of other vulnerable populations, to press for access to all conflict-affected areas, and to interpret its mandate robustly.

"Given ongoing attacks and constraints on access, the peacekeeping mission's focus needs to be on ratcheting up its efforts to protect civilians," Peligal said. "It's not the time to shift its focus to reconstruction and returning people home."