EU Parliament calls for international investigation on use of chemical
weapons in Darfur
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October 6, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The European Union Parliament Thursday
condemned the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Sudanese
government forces in Jebel Marra area and called for an international
investigation on the matter.
A child's arm shows off circular wounds consistent with chemical
poisoning (Amnesty International photo)Last week Amnesty International
reported that over 200 people had been killed in Darfur Jele Marra
area by banned chemical weapons since January 2016. But the government
denied the claims.
The group published pictures and accounts of 56 witnesses of the
alleged chemical attack who spoke about "poisonous smoke" vomit blood,
struggle to breathe and watch as their skin falls off.
The European Union "deplores the use of chemical weapons against
civilians in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur by the Sudanese Government
and highlights that this is a serious violation of international norms
and also a war crime," said a resolution endorsed by all the seven
groups of EU parliament.
The parliament "recalls that Sudan is a party to the Chemical Weapons
Convention and calls for an international investigation into these
allegations led by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW); reminds the Sudanese authorities of their
responsibility to protect human rights."
The law makers further instructed its President to send their
resolution on Sudan to the European Council and Commission,the
Government of Sudan, the African Union, the United Nations
Secretary-General, the Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary
Assembly and the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), and the Organisation
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The European legislators also dedicated a special paragraph in their
resolution to the African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur
(UNAMID) where they called on the hybrid operation to establish a
permanent presence inside Jebel Marra, to investigate and report on
allegations of violations of human rights and international law by
members of Sudanese Government forces and opposition forces alike.
On Tuesday, Hervé Ladsous the Head of the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations told the Security Council UN no evidence on the use of
chemical weapons by the Sudanese government in the area, pointing that
UNAMID has no access to the conflict areas in Jebel Marra.
Ladsous further encouraged Sudanese government which is a state party
to the Chemical Weapons Convention "to maintain, as it has stated it
would do, full cooperation with any future investigation by the OPCW".
The Sudanese government dismissed the reported allegations of chemical
weapons saying it intends to disturb its efforts to achieve
reconciliation and obstructs the national dialogue process.
"The allegations of use of chemical weapons by Sudanese Armed Forces
is baseless and fabricated. The ultimate objective of such wild
accusation, is to steer confusion in the on-going processes aimed at
deepening peace and stability and enhancing economic development and
social cohesion in Sudan," said Sudanese Ambassador to the United
Nations Omer Dahab Fadl Mohammed in a statement after the publication
of the report.
However Khartoum didn’t announce any concrete measure to probe the
allegations reported by Amnesty International, while the opposition
groups welcomed the report saying it confirms what they had kept
repeating for years.
In their resolution, the European MPs also condemned human rights
violations in Sudan particularly in the conflict areas.
The EU parliament "remains deeply concerned at the ongoing unlawful
killings, abductions, and gender-based and sexual violence in the
conflict areas, notably in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, as
well as the accompanying serious humanitarian emergency caused by
enormous internal displacements; calls for an immediate end to the
aerial bombardment of civilians by Sudanese forces".
It further condemned the arbitrary arrest and detention of activists,
rights defenders and journalist and urged the government to guarantee
the peaceful exercise of the freedoms of expression, association and
assembly.
The resolution went further to "underlines that the National Dialogue
will only succeed if carried out in an atmosphere in which the
freedoms of expression, media, association and assembly are
guaranteed".
The European lawmakers used to support regional and international
efforts for peace and democratic reforms. But the European governments
remain divided as many call for a soft approach to achieve political
reforms in the east African country.
(ST)
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