By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – The international community is increasing its demand for a cease-fire in Sudan.  A United Nations human rights expert announced on Tuesday that Sudanese forces have killed several hundred Sudanese civilians in ground attacks and aerial bombardments on villages in Darfur in the past six months.  Bystanders have also been caught up in clashes between the rebel groups and have been tortured and raped. 

Also on Tuesday, former US President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for an immediate cease-fire in Darfur and for the international community to honor its pledge to send in peacekeepers.  Carter and Tutu are two members of a group known as The Elders, a group launched on former South African President Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday in July and dedicated to finding new ways to foster peace and resolve global crises.

The Elders chose Darfur as their first mission because it is “a blight on the conscience of humanity.”  Tutu told reporters on Tuesday that “[w]e felt we had a moral imperative to join and contribute to the efforts made by may people and organizations to stop the atrocities.”   The group issued a report and action plan detailing the problem in Sudan and called for immediate action.  The report also details recommendations for peace.

Key among the recommendations is the deployment of a joint AU-UN peacekeeping force.  The 26,000-member peacekeeping force is expected to take over for the current AU force of 7,000 and start deploying next year.  However, U.N. officials have accused the Sudanese government of stalling and creating barriers to an on-time deployment. 

Since the conflict began in 2003, over 200,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been displaced.  UN investigators have issued reports stating Sudan’s government has failed to protect civilians in Darfur from rape, torture, and violence.   Sudanese lawyer Salih Mahmoud Osman, the winner of a European Union human rights prize, announced on Tuesday that despite UN Security Council resolutions the number of dead in Darfur has risen to 500,000 and that rape is still being used as a weapon of war. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters Africa – Sudan forces killed 100s of civilians in Darfur – 5 December 2007

USA Today – Carter, Tutu call for Darfur cease-fire – 4 December 2007

AllAfrica.com – Sudan: The Elders Urge Immediate Action on Darfur – 4 December 2007

Reuters Africa – EU rights champion urges Europe to act on Darfur – 5 December 2007

AP – Sudan Told to Stop Blocking Peacekeepers – 4 December 2007

For more information on the Sudan situation, please see the following Impunity Watch reports:Peacekeeping Force in Sudan Possibly Delayed; Threat of War in Sudan; Continued Delays in Deployment of Sudan Hybrid Force;  Sudan Talks Falter; Upcoming Peace Talks in Sudan in Jeopardy; New Atrocities in Darfur; Ceasefire Ends in Sudan; African Union Peacekeepers Attacked in Darfur; Ongoing Conflict in Sudan; ICC Prosecutor Demands Arrests in Sudan; Secretary General Urges Sudan President to Commit to Ceasefire; Peace Talks on Darfur Scheduled for October