Familiar story

It's a familiar story in Africa.  If you think any of this might be propaganda, the U.N. Human Rights Commission Report from May 2004 says the same thing.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Not once does the Independent think it important to acknowledge that the janjaweed are Arabs. For that reason, I am making the substitution so you get the idea.

Women and children are being chained together and burnt alive by Sudanese militias Arabs rampaging in Darfur. The groups, known as the janjaweed, Arab militia arrived in villages on horseback, rounded up men, women and children, and set them alight in the market-place.

One man, sitting in the devastated village of Dugu in south Darfur, said: 'The janjaweed Arabs came, they grabbed these people; men, women, everyone and they burnt them. They even killed my son. He was only eight. There was at least one other child there too.'

Witnesses say they found between 10 and 15 bodies smouldering. Observers from the African Union found similar burnings in Sulei and Ehda in western Darfur, where 'the entire village had been burnt and deserted, except for a few men'. The AU observers added: 'This was an unwarranted and unprovoked attack on the civilian population by the janjaweed. Arab militia.'"

An equally familiar story at the U.N.

But at the United Nations, an explicit threat of sanctions against the Sudanese government if it fails to disarm the Arab militias could be dropped from a draft resolution today because of opposition from several countries, including Pakistan, Russia and China.

Sources believe although Britain and the United States have strongly favoured retaining the sanctions threat in the text, they were preparing to back down as the only way to attain broad support on the Sudan resolution in the Security Council. A vote on the draft resolution is likely to be taken today or tomorrow. It is likely to include a slightly less specific warning of "further measures" that would be considered to punish Khartoum if it has not restrained the Arab militias within 30 days. Five countries, led by Pakistan, say the Muslim Sudanese government should be given more time.

Sudan is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. This is the full list of members. And this is the U.N. Human Rights Commission report in PDF format on the Sudan, based on investigation in April, written in May 2004.