News Article by AP posted on October 06, 2000 at 01:33:31: EST (-5 GMT)
Human rights groups back U.S. in opposing council seat for Sudan
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Human rights campaigners and a former
Sudanese
slave strongly backed a U.S. campaign to deny Sudan a seat on
the
U.N. Security Council, citing Sudan leaders for a record of
"brutality
and violence."
The United States was engaged in intensive lobbying to promote
Mauritius
as a rival candidate for an African seat on the 15-member
council in next
Tuesday's ballot, arguing that Sudan's bid should
be rejected because it is
under U.N. sanctions and is considered by
Washington to be a sponsor of
terrorism.
Human rights groups called a news conference Thursday to focus
on abuses
in Sudan, citing a U.N. report accusing the Khartoum
government of ethnic
cleansing and slavery, and a 1999 U.S. House
of Representatives resolution
that accused it of "deliberately and
systematically committing genocide in
southern Sudan."
The civil war in Sudan has pitted the Muslim North against the
Christian
and animist South since 1983, claiming about 2 million
lives. It also has
caused more than 4 million people to flee their
homes.
"Such a toll of suffering ranks with the crimes of Hitler,
Stalin, and Pol
Pot," said Adrian Karatnycky, president of Freedom
House, a nonprofit
organization that promotes human rights and that
blames the deaths on the
government. "We hope that the vote of the
General Assembly on Tuesday will
take heed of this record of
brutality and violence."
Charles Jacobs, president of the American Anti-Slavery Group,
added: "We
should not be here discussing whether Sudan is fit for
a seat at the Security
Council. We should be here explaining why
Sudan is unfit for membership in
the United Nations."
A spokesman for Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Elfaith Mohamed Ahmed
Erwa,
rejected the allegations of genocide and called the human
rights groups
"Sudan haters" that are now "busy promoting the
objectives of the official
U.S. foreign policy."
Sudan's government says it has tried to arrive at a peaceful
settlement in
the south, but the spokesman, speaking on condition
of anonymity, accused
grassroots groups operating in southern Sudan
of providing logistical support
to the rebels and prolonging the
war.
At a closed-door meeting Thursday, Uganda tried unsuccessfully
to get
African ambassadors to reconsider their endorsement of
Sudan, African
diplomats said. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
has accused the Sudanese
government of "incredible criminal
terrorism" against his country through the
kidnapping of children.
More than half a dozen human rights groups at the news
conference pledged
to continue their campaign to get as many of the
189 U.N. member states as
possible to oppose Sudan's candidacy.