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 Re: Rights group says Sudan used chemical weapons in Darfur (Re: Kostawi)
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(CNN)The Sudanese government has been accused of using chemical weapons against the people of Darfur, according to a report released by Amnesty International on Thursday.The attacks targeted civilians and may constitute a war crime, the report said. The Sudanese government has denied the allegations, calling them "rumors."Amnesty says it has new evidence abuses persist in a war that has been described as one of the world's worst humanitarian conflicts by the United Nations.Unidentified witnesses quoted in the Amnesty report said the attacks left a smoke, which turned dark blue and smelled "like rotten eggs," coating the trees, ground, and humans in a thick black dust.
Witness testimony
After exposure to the smoke, some said their skin turned white and became rotten or hardened and fell off in chunks.
"When the bomb exploded I inhaled the poisonous air which I am still smelling even now," said one witness.
Some children vomited blood, the report said. Another witness said: "My youngest child was walking before the attack. Now she is only crawling."
Pictures obtained by Amnesty International show graphic images of children with large welts, peeling skin, and infected lesions.
Civilians targeted
The alleged use of chemical weapons came during a large-scale offensive by the Sudanese forces and its allied groups against an armed opposition group, the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), which operates in the Jebel Marra region.
The Sudanese government accused the group of #####ng and attacking civilians and military vehicles prior to the January offensive.
Since the Sudanese military campaign began in January, Amnesty International says up to 250 people have been killed by chemical weapons.
The report alleges the Sudanese forces targeted civilians: "The overwhelming majority of the attacked villages had no formal armed opposition presence at the time of the attacks. The purpose...appears to have been to target the entire population of the village."
Chemical attacks in some regions have been taking place for eight months, including just weeks before the report's release.
'Rumors'
The Sudanese government has denied allegations it had used chemical weapons against civilians, calling them "rumors."
"I don't know from where these rumors are being said," Sudan's Information Minister Ahmed Bilal told CNN.
Bilal acknowledged a government offensive in Jebel Marra had taken place, saying it was in response to rebel activity.
"It was started by them," Bilal said. "The rebels were doing some sort of #####ng, they were attacking innocent people. This has stopped. There is not an inch occupied by rebels," Bilal said.
"The whole Darfur is quite in peace and the people are very happy," he said.
Likely more than one chemical
Journalists and humanitarians have been prohibited from entering Jebel Marra for more than four years, making reporting extremely difficult from the region.
Amnesty International had to do all reporting remotely. Collecting soil samples for confirmation was impossible.
Two chemical weapons experts reviewed photographic and video evidence and both found the symptoms consistent with chemical agents such as sulfur mustard, lewisite and nitrogen mustard -- or a combination.
"The symptoms varied between the attacks and this tells me there were likely more than one chemical in use as well as the possibility that the chemicals were mixed or that different chemicals were used at different times for different attacks," said Dr. Jennifer Knaack, one of the weapons experts involved in the study.
The writer of the report, a senior Amnesty adviser, Jonathan Loeb calls it "by far the most substantial, credible release of evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Darfur since the conflict began."
History of conflict
The conflict in Darfur began around 2003 when several rebel groups in Darfur took up arms against the government in Khartoum. They had grievances over land and historical marginalization.
In response, the government's counterinsurgency strategy targeted the opposition groups but reportedly expanded to target tribes associated with the insurgents.
The violence escalated into a war and the in 2008, the UN estimated that 300,000 people may have died in the Darfur conflict, although experts say that figure has likely risen since then.
Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, was charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, including genocide, related to the Darfur conflict in 2010.
Bashir has yet to cooperate with the court and continues to travel freely around the continent. South Africa and Uganda have both been criticized for allowing President Bashir to travel to their countries without being turned over to the ICC.
(عدل بواسطة Kostawi on 09-29-2016, 07:05 PM)
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Re: Rights group says Sudan used chemical weapons in Darfur (Re: Kostawi)
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Mustard agent
Amnesty International claims to have evidence of the use of suspected chemical weapons in Darfur. It says two independent experts have concluded the evidence suggests exposure to blister agents.
Blister agents include sulfur mustard and nitrogen mustard. Sulfur mustard has long been in use as a chemical weapon -- it inflicted horrific casualties in World War I.
Mustard agents inflict chemical burns on the skin, eyes and lungs, and can also affect the internal organs. Victims can be disabled as a result of exposure. It can be fatal if they come into contact with large amounts.
While damage is caused to the body's cells within minutes of contact with mustard agent, it can take hours before the full effects are felt.
Symptoms can include blistering, itching or severe burning of the skin; weeping eyes, swollen eyelids or even blindness; vomiting and collapse.
The effects of severe exposure can last for years.
There's no antidote for mustard agent injury.
Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
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Re: Rights group says Sudan used chemical weapons in Darfur (Re: Kostawi)
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Aljazeera
NEWSHUMAN RIGHTS9 HOURS AGO
Sudan accused of chemical weapons attacks in Darfur
Sudanese officials deny Amnesty report alleging suspected use of chemical weapons by Sudan's government forces.
Sudan's government has been accused of killing scores of civilians this year in at least 30 suspected chemical weapons attacks in a remote area of the country's Darfur region.
In a report released on Thursday, Amnesty International estimated that up to 250 people, including many children, may have died as a result of exposure to the chemical weapons agents in the Jebel Marra area since January.
The UK-based rights group, which said that its investigation was based on satellite imagery and more than 200 interviews, alleged that the most recent attack occurred on September 9.
"There have been relentless attacks, there have been crimes against humanity, and now this level of viciousness with the use of suspected chemical weapons," Tirana Hassan, Amnesty's director of Crisis Research, told Al Jazeera.
"The use of chemical weapons is a war crime. The evidence we have gathered is credible and portrays a regime that is intent on directing attacks against the civilian population in Darfur without any fear of international retribution," said Hassan.
Amnesty said it had presented its findings to two independent chemical weapons experts.
"Both concluded that the evidence strongly suggested exposure to vesicants, or blister agents, such as the chemical warfare agents sulfur mustard, Lewisite or nitrogen mustard," the watchdog said in a statement.
READ MORE: UN warns of worsening situation in Sudan's Darfur
But Sudanese officials strongly denied that the Sudanese government forces had ever used chemical warfare.
"We don’t use chemical weapons against our citizens," Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudan's foreign minister, told Al Jazeera. "We haven’t used it; if that has ever happened, it is very easy to tell."
Sudanese UN Ambassador Omer Dahab Fadl Mohamed said in a statement that the Amnesty report was "utterly unfounded" and that Sudan does not possess any type of chemical weapons.
"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," he said.
Sudan joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1999 under which members agree to never use toxic arms.
A joint African Union and United Nations force, known as UNAMID, has been stationed in Darfur since 2007. Security remains fragile in Darfur, where mainly non-Arab tribes have been fighting the Arab-led government in Khartoum, and the government is struggling to control rural areas.
Darfur has been racked by conflict since 2003 when ethnic groups rebelled against the government.
According to the UN, at least 300,000 people have been killed since the fighting began, while 4.4 million people need aid and more than 2.5 million have been displaced.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on charges of war crimes and genocide in his drive to crush the Darfur revolt.
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Re: Rights group says Sudan used chemical weapons in Darfur (Re: Kostawi)
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Amnesty International has accused the Sudanese government of having conducted chemical attacks against civilians in the conflict-ridden Darfur region, likely killing up to 250 people.
In a report published on Thursday, the international human rights group said Sudanese government forces carried out at least 30 gas attacks in the mountainous area of Jebel Marra in Darfur between January and September this year.
“An Amnesty International investigation has gathered horrific evidence of the repeated use of what are believed to be chemical weapons against civilians, including very young children, by Sudanese government forces in one of the most remote regions of Darfur over the past eight months,” the report said.
“Between 200 and 250 people may have died as a result of exposure to the chemical weapons agents, with many or most being children,” Amnesty said.
In the nearly 100-page report, the rights group also claimed that the forces had carried out “indiscriminate bombing of civilians... unlawful killing of men, women and children and the abduction and rape of women” in Darfur’s Jebel Marra.
Amnesty said it had given the evidence it had collected — including gruesome photographs of children suffering from chemical burns, satellite imagery, and interviews with more than 200 survivors — to two independent chemical weapons experts, who concluded that chemical agents had been used.
“Both concluded that the evidence strongly suggested exposure to vesicants, or blister agents, such as the chemical warfare agents sulfur mustard, lewisite or nitrogen mustard,” the report read.
Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s director of crisis research, expressed deep concern about the issue, saying “The scale and brutality of these attacks is hard to put into words.”
“The evidence we have gathered is credible and portrays a regime that is intent on directing attacks against the civilian population in Darfur without any fear of international retribution,” she noted.
‘We don’t have chemical weapons’
Sudanese Ambassador to the UN Omer Dahab Fadl has, meanwhile, rejected the claims made in the Amnesty report, saying the accusations were “utterly unfounded” and that Sudan was not in possession of chemical weapons.
“The allegations of the use of chemical weapons by Sudanese Armed Forces are baseless and fabricated. The ultimate objective of such wild accusation, is to steer confusion in the ongoing processes aimed at deepening peace and stability and enhancing economic development and social cohesion in Sudan,” he said.
Violence broke out in Darfur in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels rose against long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir, accusing his Arab-dominated government of marginalizing the region.
There has also been tribal fighting in the region.
Some 2.5 million people have been displaced in Darfur, according to the latest UN figures, which also show that over 300,000 people have died there since violence began.
The United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was launched in 2007 in a bid to protect civilians and restore stability to the restive region.
Darfur was a united region since its incorporation into Sudan in 1916 until 1994, when Bashir divided it into three states, adding two more in 2012.
The US has imposed trade sanctions against Sudan since 1997, citing the situation in Darfur.
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Kostawi
أنور أدم
فقيرى جاويش طه
Deng
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست