Sudan Tries to Block U.N. Rights ReportBy ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 13, 2007; 11:57 AM
GENEVA -- Sudan on Tuesday accused a U.N. panel of bias and moved to
block the U.N. Human Rights Council from considering its report accusing
Khartoum of orchestrating attacks in Darfur.
Nobel laureate Jody Williams, who headed the panel, took "a preconceived
and hostile attitude against Sudan, as noted in her statements to the media
and her meetings with the different regional groups in Geneva," Sudanese
Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi told the 47-nation council in remarks
prepared for delivery.
The sharply worded report, issued Monday, said the United Nations must
move to protect civilians against a Sudanese government-orchestrated
campaign in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5
million have been displaced by four years of fighting.
In the hardest-hitting and most explicit report in a series submitted by
rights experts to the world body in the past four years, Williams' panel
called for U.N. Security Council intervention, sanctions and criminal
prosecution.
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