US says Darfur genocide continues, rights abuses rife

KHARTOUM, Mar 7 (Reuters) Washington issued a damning human rights report on Sudan, saying genocide in Darfur continued and blaming both government and rebel forces for attacks in the remote region.

It said there was widespread impunity for crimes including torture and that thousands more people had been killed by government forces and its allied militias, known locally as Janjaweed, in Darfur in 2006.

''Genocide continued to ravage the Darfur region of Sudan,'' the report released yesterday said.

''The Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia bear the responsibility for the genocide in Darfur and all parties to the conflagration committed serious abuses.'' Khartoum denies genocide and blames the Western media for exaggerating the four-year-old Darfur conflict. European governments are reluctant to use the term.

The International Criminal Court said last week it had reason to believe war crimes had been committed in Darfur by a junior government minister and a pro-government militia leader.

''During the year, the government resumed aerial bombardment of civilian targets, including homes, school and markets,'' the US report said.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has admitted bombing Darfur, but says his forces targeted rebel bases in self defence.

The report outlined details of several torture cases by government authorities throughout the country and of rape and gang rape in Darfur. It said there were few attempts to prosecute those responsible.

But the report also severely reprimanded Darfur rebel forces for rights abuses in 2006, criticism normally reserved for government forces and militias.

REBEL ATTACKS Yesterday the African Union force monitoring a shaky Darfur ceasefire said soldiers from former Darfur rebel Minni Arcua Minnawi's Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) killed two peacekeepers and critically injured a third in the rebel controlled town of Gereida.

Minnawi was the only one of three negotiating rebel factions to sign a May 2006 peace deal.

''Rebel groups in Darfur ... also committed numerous abuses during the year, including the killing of civilians, beatings and rape,'' the report said.

''Rebel forces and bandits also obstructed the flow of humanitarian assistance to the Darfur region and were responsible for attacks on humanitarian workers that resulted in death and injury.'' The report said rebels were responsible for the deaths of five aid workers in 2006. Darfur hosts the world's largest aid operation.

Since the May peace deal, rejected by many in Darfur's makeshift camps for displaced, Minnawi has become the fourth-ranking member of the presidency in Khartoum. But he complains the government shows no political will to implement the accord.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003 accusing the central government of marginalising the remote region. During the anti-insurgency campaign, Khartoum mobilised militias from mostly Arab tribes, whose campaign of terror drove 2.5 million from their homes.

Khartoum rejects a U.N. takeover of the cash-strapped and ill-equipped African Union force, and refuses to allow a compromise UN-AU hybrid mission, calling it an attempt to recolonise Sudan.

US special envoy Andrew Natsios who travelled to Darfur during a visit to Sudan, is due to meet President Bashir today to push him to accept more international troops.

REUTERS PA PM1818