AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

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AI Index: IOR 41/029/2006 (Public)

News Service No: 322

13 December 2006

UN: Human Rights Council resolution a lukewarm response to deepening crisis in Darfur

Amnesty International today noted that the Human Rights Council’s decision to send a group of 'highly qualified persons' on a fact finding mission to Sudan offers some hope that the Sudanese Government will be held to account for its failure to protect the people of Darfur. However Amnesty International also condemned the resolution's timidity in failing to recognise the severity of situation in Darfur and the complicity of the Sudanese Government in the serious and systematic human rights violations taking place.

"The assessment mission established by the Human Rights Council must put an end to the shameless lies and denial of responsibility of the Government of Sudan for the situation in Darfur. We expect this mission to enable the Human Rights Council to hold the Sudanese Government to account for its abject failure to protect Darfur's 'African' population", said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of the Africa programme at Amnesty International

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