Genocide's authors

The International Criminal Court is honing in on the perpetrators of slaughter in Darfur, writes Gamal Nkrumah

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It has been a mighty long time coming, but finally the New York-based Human Rights Watch released an 85-page report that condemns high-level Sudanese officials, including Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir, as guilty of crimes against humanity for instigating and perpetuating the violence in Darfur. This spells disaster for the Sudanese government. Small wonder then that the Sudanese authorities dismissed Human Rights Watch allegations as "ridiculous lies" and "malicious fabrications". The official line in Khartoum is that the "highly politicised" report depends on the propaganda of the Darfur armed opposition groups.

At the same time the Sudanese authorities are in a tailspin. The report, prepared for the International Criminal Court (ICC), was meant to spotlight gross human rights violations in Sudan in general, and in Darfur in particular. The Chief ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo addressed the UN Security Council on Tuesday. He was highly critical of the manner in which the Sudan government tackled the Darfur crisis, and indicated that he would like to send ICC investigators to Sudan. The Sudanese authorities, however, have balked at the notion of international investigators prying into Sudanese domestic affairs. They expressed their outrage at the idea before, but they are known to have acquiesced in the past when it comes to such matters.

Washington and Khartoum have always had their differences. But the criticism of independent and internationally respected human rights groups radically changes the picture. The two main armed Darfur opposition groups are the secularist Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Islamist- oriented Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The SLA has split along ethnic and tribal lines. The split has complicated the Darfur peace talks in Abuja.

SLA Secretary-General Mani Arko Minnawi is challenging the authority of SLA Chairman Abdul-Wahid Mohamed Nur. Earlier in November, Minnawi organised a congress in the South Darfur town of Haskanitah at which he was elected president of the SLA, thereby unseating Nur as the official leader of the armed group.

Salim Ahmed Salim, chief African Union (AU) negotiator on Darfur has warned of dire consequences if the Darfur political impasse is not quickly resolved. The 6,700-strong AU peace-keeping force has proved to be hopelessly inadequate in stemming the terrifying tide of lawlessness and anarchy currently engulfing the war-torn Sudanese province.

The timing of the report, coinciding with the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, has fuelled much speculation in Sudan. The report was released even as the UN announced a $1.7 billion aid and development package for Sudan.

"Yes, the Sudanese government is responsible for some crimes. That cannot be denied," Mohamed Fayeq, head of the Cairo-based Arab Human Rights Organisation told Al-Ahram Weekly. Fayeq, a member of the UN Enquiry Commission on Darfur, said that even though the Sudanese government did have a hand in the violence in Darfur, and that its actions there cannot be absolved, however, there is some exaggeration by outside forces with a vested interest in destabilising Sudan and ousting the current regime.

"International sanctions will only impact the poor of Sudan. The officials who should be punished will most likely emerge unscathed from the sanctions," he said. "There are many interferences from outside forces," he stressed. "That complicates the political scene in Sudan." The international community is adamant that the perpetrators of crimes in Darfur must be brought to book.

Human Rights Watch allegations come at a time when the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced the repatriation of southern Sudanese refugees to their homeland. The first batch of some 500,000 refugees -- 150 individuals -- returned this week. This is the first organised voluntary repatriation since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed on 9 January between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

According to official UN figures, there are 204,400 Sudanese refugees in Uganda, 90,500 in Ethiopia, 69,400 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 74,000 in Kenya, 36,000 in the Central African Republic, and 30,324 in Egypt.

The UN probe is widely regarded as bad publicity in Khartoum.