UN Rights Mission Blames Sudan for Darfur Massacre

The head of a United Nations Rights Mission has called on the international community to take action to end the slaughter of civilians in Darfur.

|PIC1|The team, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, published a report fiercely criticising the killings in the west of Sudan. She told Reuters that a firm international stance, similar to that which brought an end to apartheid in South Africa, would be needed in Sudan.

"When a state fails, the international community has to step up to the plate. We are not talking about regime change ... but to protect civilians who have done nothing to deserve being massacred," she told the news agency.

The report put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Khartoum, saying that the Sudanese government had orchestrated and taken part in the atrocities in Darfur.

The UN estimates that more than 200,000 people have been killed since extreme violence broke out in 2003. Although most of the blame for the violence is going to Khartoum, the Sudanese government denies the accusations and blames rebels.

Williams spoke out, saying she could not comprehend how anyone could say the findings were "unbalanced", Reuters reports. She reported: "Does that mean that if you criticise the United States or Israel for violations of human rights, that is balanced and objective. But if you criticise a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, ie Sudan, that is not balanced and objective?"

With some threatening to reject the report, Williams has said she will not travel to Geneva this week for the council session if it rejects the report. She told: "The indicators are at the moment that someone is going to try to block the presentation of the report, which does not bode well for the future."