Sudan Assessment Mission Denied Visas

Human Rights Council: Sudan Assessment Mission Denied Visas

The United States is deeply disappointed that the Government of Sudan has publicly announced it will not grant visas for the UN Human Rights Council's Assessment Mission to carry out an impartial review of the situation on the ground in Darfur. The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to grant the entire team entry into Sudan to carry out the mandate approved by the Human Rights Council.

We support UN Secretary-General Ban's call for the Government of Sudan to grant the assessment mission visas and urge it to live-up to its commitments to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

This mission was created by the Human Rights Council at its December 2006 Special Session on Darfur - called for by 63 countries from around the world because of strong concerns about ongoing human rights atrocities in Darfur.

The members of the mission represent all regions of the world, chosen by the President of the Human Rights Council on the basis of Council-member recommendations.

The mission has decided to continue to collect relevant information before completing its assessment and returning to Geneva on February 21, as scheduled.

2007/115, Released on February 16, 2007, Press Statement, Sean McCormack, Spokesman, Washington, DC. February 16, 2007

Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK in 1956. Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century.

These conflicts were rooted in northern economic, political, and social domination of largely non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first civil war ended in 1972, but broke out again in 1983. The second war and famine-related effects resulted in more than 4 million people displaced and, according to rebel estimates, more than 2 million deaths over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords; a final Naivasha peace treaty of January 2005 granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years, after which a referendum for independence is scheduled to be held.

A separate conflict that broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003 has resulted in at least 200,000 deaths and nearly 2 million displaced; as of late 2005, peacekeeping troops were struggling to stabilize the situation. Sudan also has faced large refugee influxes from neighboring countries, primarily Ethiopia and Chad, and armed conflict, poor transport infrastructure, and lack of government support have chronically obstructed the provision of humanitarian assistance to affected populations. CIA Factbook Sudan

Technorati Tags: State Department and Secretary of State or Sudan Assessment Mission and Western Sahara, or Human Rights Council and U.S. State Department or Condoleezza Rice and Darfur