Irish expert to help identify Darfur death perpetrators

UN: An Irish human rights consultant is to travel to Sudan shortly as part of a United Nations mission to identify perpetrators of genocide in the Darfur region.

Gerard McHugh has been appointed by UN secretary general Kofi Annan to a four-person panel charged with identifying individuals on whom sanctions should be imposed.

However, the sanctions process has been bedevilled by delays and disputes, with the UN Security Council taking over three months to agree on membership of the panel.

Greece's UN ambassador, Adamantios Vassilakis, announced at a news conference this week that the panel of experts had been named and would travel to the region and prepare an initial report.

Mr McHugh, who has carried out previous assignments for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, will sit alongside experts from the Netherlands, Jamaica and Zambia.

On March 29th, the Security Council voted 12-0, with China, Russia and Algeria abstaining, to impose a travel ban and an asset freeze on those responsible for atrocities against civilians in Sudan's Darfur region. More than three months on, no list of perpetrators has been drawn up yet.

The sanctions were to come into effect in 30 days after a list of offenders had been agreed on by a Security Council committee that Mr Vassilakis heads.

At first the UN Secretariat had problems identifying experts, with two of those chosen turning down the offer. Then they said China objected to candidates on various grounds, including lack of experience.

In one case, Beijing turned down a Briton for being too critical of Sudan.

The council's resolution, drafted by the United States, called for the experts to travel regularly to Darfur and other places in Sudan and to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the African Union is based, to monitor requirements in the resolution.

The resolution also bars militia and rebel movements from bringing weapons into Darfur. It requires the Khartoum government to ask the sanctions panel for permission to ship any military equipment or supplies into Darfur.

The Sudan delay was first raised last month by Human Rights Watch, which asked why the Security Council was "lagging behind" in its work.

At least 180,000 people in Darfur have died from violence, hunger and disease and two million have been driven out of their homes, most into squalid camps.

The conflict broke out in early 2003 after rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government, complaining of discrimination. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by arming local Arab militia, who burned down villages and slaughtered and raped civilians.

The Security Council has asked the International Criminal Court to begin an investigation of the main perpetrators.