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Prevent tragedy in Sudan, UN urged Peace depends on solution of
Kashmir: Pervez
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Taliban kill Afghan aid workers
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Prevent tragedy in Sudan, UN urged Referring to the genocide in Rwanda that wiped out close to a million people a decade ago, human rights groups are urging the United Nations to take steps to prevent another “man-made tragedy” in Sudan. Calling last week’s resolution by the UN Commission on Human Rights” a weakly worded statement on the human rights situation in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region,” Amnesty International said: “This is a very meagre response to a situation that is at the point of spiraling into a full-fledged human rights catastrophe.” The commission chairperson’s statement calls on all parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire, grant access to humanitarian organisations and sets up an independent expert to report back on human rights situation to the UN General Assembly and next year’s session of the UN rights commission. On the anniversary of the massacre in Rwanda, which spanned from April to July of 1994 and left as many as a million
Rwandese dead. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted that the world body didn’t do as much as it could have to prevent the genocide. The mass killings, torture and rape amounted to one of the single largest human rights catastrophes of the 20th century. This was a genocide - defined as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” - planned and orchestrated by the then Hutu-dominated Rwandese Government. It occurred within the context of the 1990-1994 conflict between Rwandese Government forces and the predominantly Tutsi Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). Human rights group say that 10 years after the genocide in Rwanda, the UN Commission on Human Rights has shown itself to be incapable of taking strong and decisive action on this human rights crisis. “This once again calls into question the commission’s ability and willingness to rise above the political wrangling and to promote and protect human rights,” an Amnesty International spokesperson said. A fact-finding mission sent to Sudan by the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Chad but has yet to get access to Darfur. The commission’s interim report, which was leaked, concluded that the Janjawid militias “have operated with total impunity and in close coordination with the government of Sudan” and “the pattern of attacks on civilians includes killing, rape, pillage, of livestock, and destruction of property, including water sources.” A deterioration in human rights in Darfur started after February, 2003, when a new armed group calling itself the Sudan Liberation Army attacked Sudan Government forces, saying that they were taking action against the marginalisation of Darfur and the failure of the Sudan Government to protect farming groups from nomad raiders. Another armed group, the Justice and Equality Movement, was also formed. After initially talking about reconciliation, at the end of March, 2003, the Sudan Government decided to solve the problem by repression. It allowed free rein to government-supported Janjawid, militia drawn mostly from Arab groups, to attack villages in Darfur. |
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Peace depends on solution of Kashmir: Pervez Islamabad, April 27 “Success of CBMs would largely depend upon progress on the resolution of Kashmir issue, hence both need to move at tandem,” Musharraf told a meeting of army commanders here yesterday. On the Indo-Pak peace initiatives, he said “Pakistan is sincere in its efforts and optimistic about the outcome.” He assured the army top brass “in strongest terms” that Pakistan would maintain weapons deterrence in conventional and nuclear fields as it was essential for ensuring peace and stability in the region, the state media reported. “Defence of the motherland is the foremost responsibility of the armed forces. We will always come up to the expectations of the nation”, he said apparently referring to Pakistan test-firing the long-range Shaheen-II missile as well continuation of nuclear programme despite the controversy over the scientists admitting transferring nuke technology. Almost all the general officers of the rank of major general and above were attending the two day meeting to discuss political and economic situation of the country as well as strategic and administrative issues. Musharraf also referred to the ongoing military operations in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to crack down Al-Qaida militants holed up there.
— PTI |
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WTO trashes US cotton subsidies Sao Paulo (Brazil), April 27 Details of the decision issued yesterday were not made public, but top Brazilian trade officials said they were pleased with a long-awaited report by three WTO experts. US trade officials plan an appeal if the report isn’t changed. Brazil, the world’s fifth-largest cotton producer, says the US has managed to keep its spot as the world’s second-largest producer only because the government paid USD 12.47 billion in subsidies to farmers between August 1999 and July 2003. China is the world’s top producer. The ruling is the first time that a country has been challenged over its domestic agricultural subsidies, and the first case that looks at the effect of export subsidies on agricultural products. And it is particularly important for Brazil, which has led Latin American efforts calling for the elimination of US crop subsidies that make it difficult for poor farmers in the hemisphere to compete with their richer American counterparts. If it stands, the decision could have far-reaching repercussions for American farmers. Tamping down subsidies for cotton would mean support for other US crops could be vulnerable to trade challenges.
— AP |
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20 killed as communities clash in Nigeria Jos (Nigeria), April 27 The State Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sotonye Wakama, confirmed that four people were killed but said that the figure could be higher. He said that he was yet to get full details of the violence yesterday in Bakin Chiyawa town. Inuwa Mohammed, a resident in the town who said he witnessed the unrest, told journalists in Jos, the state capital, that he saw at least 20 dead bodies. “More than 20 people were killed. Corpses littered the area,” he said. Many houses were burnt and property worth millions of naira were destroyed in the unrest, which forced many residents to flee to neighbouring Nassarawa state, said Mohammed.
— AFP |
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Taliban
kill Afghan aid workers Kandahar, (Afghanistan) April 27 The Taliban attack on the office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) in Panjwai district of Kandahar province late last night was carried out at simultaneously with a raid on the district’s police headquarters, the official said. “As a result of the two attacks, two CHA employees have been killed, ‘’ said General Salim Khan, a senior police official in Kandahar city. “One government soldier was killed and six others were wounded in the other attack,’’ he said, adding that some 200 government troops had been mobilised to hunt suspected Taliban in Panjwai, some 30 km west of Kandahar city. |
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Islamabad, April 27
In video: Pakistan hopes India associate true Kashmiri representatives in talks.
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