UN/SUDAN: Human rights groups and aid agencies stepped up calls for abuses in Darfur to be referred to the International Criminal Court yesterday, following publication of a hard-hitting United Nations report accusing the Khartoum government of war crimes.
Although the UN commission stopped short of describing the violence as "genocide", it concluded the government and its militias had systematically abused the civilian population.
The report said those responsible - not named in the edited version that was made public - should be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Amnesty International called on the UN Security Council to refer Darfur to the ICC immediately. Mr Claudio Cordone, senior director, said: "The war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur are no less serious than genocide."
Some 70,000 people have died from famine and disease since rebel groups launched offensives against government control of Darfur two years ago. Almost two million people have fled their homes fearing attacks by government-backed Janjaweed militias.
Last week the Sudanese government was accused of bombing civilian targets, killing 100 people.
Mr Mike Aaronson, director of Save the Children, which recently withdrew from Darfur after some of its staff were killed, said the lack of security was the biggest problem for aid agencies.
"That means humanitarian agencies like Save the Children can't get access to civilians affected by this conflict and that those civilians are denied protection," he said. "You can be absolutely sure that there are things going on that the international community doesn't have access to and can't do anything about."
The Security Council asked Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan in October to set up a commission of legal experts to investigate human rights violations in Darfur, determine whether genocide had occurred and identify perpetrators.
Yesterday's report detailed dozens of violations, including the Sudanese government's failure to protect civilians from rebel attack, the use of disproportionate force, and driving people from their homes.
It recommended the UN Security Council refer the matter to the ICC, established to try cases of genocide and war crimes.
However, the US has already made it clear it would prefer to see a separate tribunal set up.
Mr Richard Dicker, of Human Rights Watch, urged the US to drop its objection to the ICC.
"The delay involved in setting up a new tribunal would only lead to the loss of more innocent lives in Darfur," he said.
Gunmen shot at African Union (AU) monitors investigating a bombing in Darfur blamed by the UN on Sudan's government, an AU envoy said on yesterday. Mr Baba Gana Kingibe said the shootings on Monday were the latest in a series of attacks that posed a threat to the AU's task of monitoring a ceasefire in the western region.