BackgroundDuring 2003-2004, the Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia unleashed a violent campaign of “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity, targeting Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit, and other ethnic groups perceived to be associated with the two main rebel groups: the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).4 Civilians suffered deliberate and indiscriminate attacks by land and air, and suffered a range of human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, rape, torture, and pillage. Sexual violence featured prominently in the government and militia attacks on civilians.5 The UN International Commission of Inquiry in January 2005 concluded that rape and sexual violence were used by government forces and Janjaweed militias as a “deliberate strategy with the aim of terrorizing the population, ensuring control of the movement of the IDP population and perpetuating its displacement.”6 Even after the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians to IDP settlements in Darfur and to refugee camps in Chad, soldiers and militia stationed in nearby bases continued to taunt, harass, assault, and rape the women and girls who ventured outside to pursue livelihood activities.7 In 2005, the pervasive pattern of government and militia attacks on villages subsided in relation to previous years, but an increasing number of armed actors added to the complexity—and danger—of the situation. By late 2005, Darfurians were subject to at least four different patterns of violence: military operations by government forces and rebel groups; ethnic clashes linked to traditional tensions over resources, such as land and water; banditry and opportunistic crime; and cross-border tensions linked to Chadian internal politics.8 In the period leading up to and following the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), signed on May 5, 2006, a pattern of fighting among various rebel factions also emerged.9 This dynamic grew out of the pre-existing split between the two main SLA factions, one, the SLA/MM, led by Minni Arkoi Minawi, a Zaghawa leader who signed the agreement, and the other, the SLA/AW, led by Abdel Wahid Mohamed el-Nur, a Fur leader who did not sign. As of March 2008, five years into the conflict, multiple patterns of violence persist.10 The government and government-backed militias continue to attack civilian populations ethnically associated with rebel movements.11 Rather than disarm the militias, as the Sudanese government promised to do in an April 2004 humanitarian agreement and in subsequent agreements, the Sudanese government has continued to deploy Janjaweed during attacks.12 The government has integrated most Janjaweed members into various official security organs such as the Border Guards, Popular Defence Forces, and the nomadic police (“shorta zaina,” a unit of national police). Meanwhile, rebel movements have further fragmented and proliferated, with over two dozen factions now vying for power.13 There have been credible allegations that rebel forces have committed sexual violence against women and girls traveling outside of IDP camps and in rural areas. The conflict has caused a general break-down of law and order and led to an upsurge in looting and banditry by rebels and opportunists alike. Weapons continue to flow into Darfur in violation of the UN arms embargo.14 The IDP camps have become more insecure.15 Armed groups have targeted UN agencies, the African Union peacekeepers, and international and local humanitarian workers. In January 2008 alone, largely unknown assailants hijacked 36 humanitarian vehicles, including 23 World Food Program vehicles, and assaulted and kidnapped staffers and drivers.16 The insecurity has prevented humanitarian and UN human rights monitors from accessing certain areas by vehicle. In West Darfur the consequence was that humanitarian agencies could not reach an estimated 160,000 civilians in January and February 2008 because of ongoing insecurity.17 The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), the peacekeeping force deployed in Darfur from 2004 through 2007, focused some of its protection activities on responding to sexual violence, and may have helped reduced sexual violence.18 But the mission as a whole was severely hamstrung by a lack of resources, poor organization, a loss of credibility, and security threats. On December 31, 2007, it transferred its peacekeeping mandate to the “hybrid” United Nations African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The first such hybrid and the largest-ever peacekeeping mission, UNAMID will consist of up to 26,000 military and civilian personnel, more than triple the size of AMIS, when fully deployed. To date, the Sudanese government’s obstructive tactics and the failure of troop contributing countries to supply necessary helicopters and logistical support have stalled deployment of staff and equipment significantly.19 As of January 31, 2008, the mission had only 9,126 uniformed personnel out of its designated complement of 26,000 deployed throughout Darfur.20 4 For background on the human rights situation in Darfur, see Human Rights Watch reports and briefing papers: Entrenching Impunity: Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur, December 2005; Targeting the Fur: Mass Killings in Darfur, January 21, 2005; If We Return We Will Be Killed: Consolidation of Ethnic Cleansing in Darfur, Sudan, November 2004; Empty Promises: Continuing Abuses in Darfur, Sudan, August 11, 2004; Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic Cleansing by Government and Militia Forces in Western Sudan, Vol. 16, No. 6 (A), May 2004; and Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan, Vol. 16, No.5 (A), April 2004. 5 United Nations, Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary General (hereinafter “International Commission of Inquiry Report”), January 25, 2005, paras. 333-353, http://www.un.org/News/dh/sudan/com_inq_darfur.pdf (accessed February 26, 2008); Human Rights Watch, Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad, April 12, 2005. 6 International Commission of Inquiry Report, para. 353, http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/Report_to_UN_on_Darfur.pdf (accessed February 28, 2008). 7 Human Rights Watch, Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad, pp. 5-7. 8 Human Rights Watch, Entrenching Impunity: Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur, December 2005, p. 8. 9 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “Fourth Periodic Report of the United Nations High Commissioner on the human rights situation in the Sudan: Deepening Crisis in Darfur Two Months After the Darfur Peace Agreement: An Assessment,” Geneva, May 2006, paras. 19-21. 10 For a description of these patterns, see Human Rights Watch, Darfur 2007: Chaos by Design. Peacekeeping Challenges for AMIS and UNAMID, Vol. 19, No. 15(A), September 2007. 11 On February 8, 2008, the government used air and ground forces to attack three towns in northern West Darfur, resulting in approximately 150 civilian deaths. Approximately 300 armed militia men on horses assisted in the attack, burning homes and looting property in the days that followed. The attack displaced tens of thousands of civilians and drove 10,000 to seek safety across the border in Chad. See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, Government must end attacks on civilians, February 11, 2008; UNHCR, “Thousands of refugees flee Darfur and seek shelter in Chad,” February 11, 2008. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/17478285c06bd9b78874b4bfed15ba36.htm (accessed March 7, 2008). 12 These attacks have been consistently documented by the OHCHR’s periodic reports. 13 Victor Tanner and Jerome Tubiana, “Divided They Fall: the Fragmentation of Darfur’s Rebel Groups,” Small Arms Survey, HSBA Working Paper July 6, 2007, http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/spotlight/sudan/Sudan_pdf/SWP%206%20Darfur%20rebels.pdf (accessed February 26, 2008); “Darfur rebels may unite but talks still tough,” Reuters, November 12, 2007; http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSMCD247639 (accessed February 26, 2008), noting over a dozen splits since the DPA was signed on May 5, 2006. 14 UN Security Council, Report of the Panel of Experts established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan prepared in accordance with paragraph 2 of resolution 1713 (2006), S/2007/584, 3 October 2007, para. 73. A report by the Smalls Arm Survey estimates 1.9-3.2 million small arms are in circulation in Sudan, two-thirds of which are held by civilians. “Militarization of Sudan,” Small Arms Survey, Issue Brief, April, 2007, p.8. http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/spotlight/sudan/Sudan_pdf/SIB%206%20militarization.pdf (accessed February 29, 2008). 15 Amnesty International, “Displaced in Darfur: A Generation of Anger,” January 22, 2008, pp. 12-14, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/darfur-camps-flooded-weapons-20080122 (accessed February 26, 2008). 16 UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Overview, Vol. 4, Issue 1, January, 2008, http://www.unsudanig.org/docs/Sudan%20Humanitarian%20Overview%20Vol4%20Iss01%20final.pdf (accessed February 26, 2008). Bandits and thieves targeted AMIS peacekeepers even in their homes. In May 2007 an Egyptian soldier among the first UN peacekeepers sent in preparation for the AMIS transition to UNAMID was shot dead by unknown men in the course of an armed robbery; “First UN Peacekeeper Killed in Darfur,” AP, May 27, 2007, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article22062 (accessed February 26, 2008). 17 “Government must end attacks on civilians,” Human Rights Watch news release, February 10, 2008, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/09/sudan18026.htm (accessed February 26, 2008). 18 Human Rights Watch, “Chaos by Design,” p. 62; African Union, “Report of the Chairperson of the Commission on the Situation in Darfur,” Peace and Security Council, PSC/PR/2(CXII), para.34 (stating that more violations occurred in areas AMIS could not patrol). 19 Human Rights Watch joint NGO report, UNAMID Deployment on the Brink: the road to security in Darfur blocked by government obstructions, December 2007, http://hrw.org/pub/2007/africa/unamid1207web.pdf. 20 Report of the Secretary-General on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, S/2008/98, 14 February, 2008. |