- Sudan has been re-elected as one of the African group's representatives to the UN Commission on Human Rights, an occasion that caused the US delegate to walk out of the Commission's meeting. The US government calls Sudan's candidacy "entirely inappropriate" as the Sudanese government currently "massacres its own African citizens" in the Darfur region.
The African Group yesterday had presented the candidacy for the continent's four vacant seats on the Commission and had not found more appropriate candidates than Sudan, Guinea, Kenya and Togo. Of these countries, only the Kenyan government is reputed for respecting human rights.
Togo and Guinea are among Africa's most repressive dictatorships, while the Sudanese government militarily supports a militia that is proven to commit ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Other notorious African human rights violators represented in the Commission and not up for re-election yet, include Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mauritania and Gabon.
The US government, which traditionally is on bad terms with the Khartoum regime, reacted most strongly to the re-election of Sudan. US Ambassador Sichan Siv walked out of the meeting in protest, delivering a statement of protest to the Commission's presidency, now published by the US State Department.
- The United States is perplexed and dismayed by the decision to put forward Sudan, a country that massacres its own African citizens, for election to the UN Commission on Human Rights, said Mr Siv. "This year, above all previous years, my delegation believes that this candidature is entirely inappropriate," the US Ambassador added.
Mr Siv noted the "very credible" reports coming out of Sudan, describing "serious human rights violations in Darfur." Both the UN and the US had delivered strong condemnations of the Sudanese government's behaviour in Darfur, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had even likened events there to "ethnic cleansing," Mr Siv reminded the Commission.
He went on criticising African governments for their solidarity with the Khartoum regime. "As the reality of Darfur unfolded, even Sub-Saharan African nations, which had been solidly behind Sudan's efforts to block Commission action on Sudan, began to press for action on Darfur," said Mr Siv. However, in the end, the US had lost the diplomatic fight in the UN for a stronger resolution condemning Sudan.
- But the least we should be able to do is to not elect a country to the only global body charged specifically with protecting human rights, at the precise time when tens of thousands of its citizens are being murdered or left to die of starvation, the US Ambassador said, addressed to African governments. The election of Sudan was "allowing the Commission to become a safe-haven for the world's worst human rights violators, especially one engaged in 'ethnic cleansing'."
- The US will not participate in this absurdity. Our delegation will absent itself from the meeting rather than lend support to Sudan's candidacy, Mr Siv told the Commission's President. "We ask that the Secretariat take note of our action in the record of this session," he added.
The Sudanese government's representative to the Commission however did not let Mr Siv's statement pass without protest. Omar Bashir Manis, responded by criticising the US for engaging in human rights abuses around the world, especially citing the "infamous and degrading treatment of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison."
Mr Bashir went on naming the latest known examples of excessive use of force by the UN Army, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. "It is yet very ironic that the United States delegation, while shedding crocodile tears over the situation in Darfur, is turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by American forces against the innocent civilian population in Iraq," Mr Bashir said.
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afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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