Region | Sudan
Sudanese refugees want justice for atrocities endured in Darfur
Refugees in this crowded camp, where mass graves hold the victims of one of the bloodiest Sudanese government attacks against them, see little hope in a new drive for peace aimed at ending the nearly six-year war in Darfur. What they want is justice.
- AP
- Published: 22:09 November 16, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Refugees see little hope for peace until Omar Al Bashir is put on trial for genocide.
Darfur: Refugees in this crowded camp, where mass graves hold the victims of one of the bloodiest Sudanese government attacks against them, see little hope in a new drive for peace aimed at ending the nearly six-year war in Darfur. What they want is justice.
For many of the refugees, that means putting Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir on trial for genocide.
Khalthoum Adam, a 50-year-old woman in Kalma Camp, says that peace deal or not, without a trial she won't return to her home village not far from Kalma.
She fears violence by Arab camel herders that, she says, are still holding the land that she and her family were driven out of by attacking planes and government militia five years ago.
"They will be sending us to another danger" if camp residents are forced to return home as part of a peace agreement, she said. "If Al Bashir doesn't go to trial, we will stay in the camps."
Adam spoke as she emerged from Kalma with a group of women to collect grain from nearby fields, guarded by UN peacekeepers to prevent the frequent attacks on women who dare step out of the camps.
Distrust of Al Bashir and his Arab-led government is deep and bitter among the 2.7 million mostly ethnic Africans driven from their homes.
Some observers say their fears must be taken into account amid new, still struggling efforts to get Darfur rebel leaders and the government back to the negotiating table.
After the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court announced genocide charges against Al Bashir last summer, international observers and Sudan's allies warned that if the court pushes ahead, the regime could lash out and wreck any peace process.
Next week, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is to present details to the Hague-based court outlining what he says is Al Bashir's role in overseeing the systematic targeting of Darfur's main Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes.
Based on that, the judges are to make a final decision on the indictment and on issuing an arrest warrant.
Al Bashir has sought to avert prosecution by presenting himself as indispensable for peace.
He launched a new initiative on Wednesday, offering a cease-fire to rebels and announcing his willingness to meet some of their top demands, including disarming the government-allied Arab militias known as janjaweed and compensating displaced Darfurians to help them return home.
His move comes as the UN and the Arab Gulf state of Qatar try to stitch together yet another round of peace talks between the government and Darfur's multiple rebel groups.
So far, the rebels have rejected a cease-fire. They say concrete steps, including disarming janjaweed, must come first.
The janjaweed are blamed for widespread atrocities, killings and rapes against ethnic Africans in a campaign believed to have been backed by Khartoum to help it put down Darfur's rebels. Up to 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in early 2003.
In the eyes of many Darfur refugees, justice is the only way to peace.
Sudan: Brutal attacks
A rebel group is accusing the Sudanese government forces of attacking an area in northern Darfur despite a government-declared cease-fire.
The Justice and Equality Movement says government vehicles backed by helicopters attacked the area yesterday. It says the group repelled the attack and suffered no losses.
Rebel spokesman Ahmad Hussain said the attack indicates that the cease-fire announced by President Omar Al Bashir on Wednesday is "a big lie."
Military spokesman Brigadier General Osman Mohammad Al Aghbash denied any raid, but said army forces intervened to stop an attack against a relief convoy.
Al Aghbash was quoted by the Sudan Media Centre, a semiofficial news agency, as saying the government was committed to the ceasefire.
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