Sudanese Minister, NISS defy chemical weapons allegations

Sudan’s Foreign Minister has dismissed calls for an international investigation into claims of the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Darfur’s Jebel Marra, following a potentially damning report by Amnesty International.

The Amnesty report published in September cited evidence of the Sudanese government’s use of chemical weapons against civilians in Jebel Marra in at least 30 attacks, which killed about 250 people, mostly children.

The director of the information department of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Mansour Ahmed, has also dismissed the findings of the Amnesty International report, calling them “far from truth and built on fabricated pictures”.

Speaking to the press at the Parliament on Wednesday, the official Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reports Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour as saying that the Sudanese government “does not have to respond to anyone who makes accusations against the armed forces”. He added that “to date, no one has complained of any immoral practices and abuses”.

Responding to the chorus of calls from the Sudanese opposition, the international community as well as human rights organisations to allow an independent international investigation into the allegations, Ghandour said that none of the displaced have reported any chemical weapons attacks to the Unamid peacekeeping mission to support these allegations.

He also brushed-away the several protest actions that were staged by Sudanese across the world, including London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and The Hague, saying: The purpose of these allegations is to impede the national dialogue and to spoil the improvement of Sudan’s relations with the international community.

NISS

Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Mansour Ahmed, Director of the NISS information department, challenged the allegations in the Amnesty report, arguing that the representatives of the displaced made no mention of chemical weapons attacks during their meeting with US special envoy for Sudan, Donald Booth, during his visit to Darfur in July.

As was widely reported by Radio Dabanga, the NISS detained 15 people following the July meeting with Booth in Nierteti in Central Darfur.

Last week, fear of arrest and persecution again prevented leaders, sheiks and omdas representing the displaced of Nierteti from speaking frankly when they met with UN Director of Africa Affairs at the Department of Peace Keeping operations, Michael J. Kingsley, as a contingent of the NISS was present.

Displaced

However, El Shafie Ahmed, the Coordinator of Central Darfur camps for the displaced said that “the Government's denial and falsification of the international reports as not new, citing the war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and ethnic cleansing perpetrated in Darfur.

He said that the victims and remnants of those chemical weapons are still to be found in the caves and plains of Jebel Marra.

Ahmed said that if the Government is innocent of the allegations, it should allow human rights and humanitarian organisations access to the area to conduct an investigation.

In response to Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Mansour Ahmed’s remarks, El Shafie Ahmed pointed out that the people who met with US Envoy Booth in July have been displaced from their homes for 13 years, and are not among the newly displaced.

Opposition reactions

The head of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), Arko Minni Minawi said that the Amnesty International report is true.

He explained that the Government's use of chemical weapons is not new in Darfur, and that he has personally seen “the marks of these weapons” on the bodies of a number of people and his troops in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Dr Jibril Ibrahim, the head of the Justice and Equality Movement, echoed his SLM colleague that the use of chemical weapons by the Khartoum regime in Darfur is not new.

He confirmed that Khartoum regime has used internationally banned weapons in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile. He pointed out that atrocities have been occurring since 2004. “Many of those exposed to bombardments have complained about an inability to breathe, suffocation, fainting, and skin decay.”

Ibrahim and Minawi called for urgent action by the international community to investigate the allegations and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Broad National Front

Ali Mahmoud Hassanein, the head of the Broad National Front, said that it is not surprising that the Khartoum regime, “which has lost ethical reference, to use all means including banned weapons to conquer the Sudanese people and eliminate the armed movements”.

He asserts that “while the international community knows that the Khartoum regime is using banned weapons, it is conspiring for its interest of both the fight against terrorism and illegal immigration”.

He stressed that “the solution is in the hands of the Sudanese people, not in the hands of the international community”.

Satellite images

Amnesty International recently announced that at least 30 likely chemical attacks have taken place in Darfur’s Jebel Marra since the beginning of this year. Its research is based on interviews, satellite imagery, and analysis of photographs of injuries, as Sudan has blocked access to the conflict areas in Darfur and South Kordofan. Amnesty has now called on the public to help with 'Decode Darfur': analysing the large number of satellite images of Darfur online.