JURIST - Paper Chase: Sudan UN envoy claims many reports of rights violations in Darfur fabricated

[JURIST] Sudan Ambassador to the UN Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem on Friday disputed [recorded video] the latest report from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [JURIST news archive] to the UN Security Council [official website] on ongoing violations of human rights in country's Darfur [JURIST news archive] region, claiming that many of the alleged violations were "fabricated" by partial non-governmental organizations. Annan’s report, submitted Thursday, blamed the violence and abuses on the armed forces and on rebel factions and militias. Oliver Ulich, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [official website] in Sudan, acknowledged that the UN used information from non-government groups, but insisted that the sources were reliable and that all information had been verified before sending reports to the Security Council.

The fighting between the government and rebel factions in Darfur, which continues to surge even after a May peace deal, has killed or displaced millions of people since it began three years ago. The peace deal [JURIST report], which has yet to take effect, would allow UN peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan and take over the peacekeeping mission currently led by the African Union (AU) [official website]. So far, Sudan has not allowed UN troops to come in, though Sudan President Omar al-Bashir reiterated on Thursday that he would allow UN support for the AU mission. AP has more.

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