Rwanda's pledge of troops to protect civilians in Darfur should encourage other countries to press Sudan to accept more African Union troops to stop the killing there, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
The 154 Rwandan troops deployed on Sunday to protect African Union cease-fire monitors, and this weekend Nigerian troops will join them.
"The Rwandan government deserves praise for deploying troops to Darfur and pledging to protect civilians," said Georgette Gagnon, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Africa division.
"Now the international community should increase pressure on Sudan to accept peacekeepers with a mandate for protecting civilians, and it should provide the support that's urgently needed for this mission," Gagnon said.
Khartoum has resisted the idea, although Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said on Saturday that his government might agree "if the African Union convinces us of the importance of a peacekeeping force."
The UN Security Council last month gave Sudan a stern warning to rein in state-sponsored Arab Janjaweed militias accused of committing atrocities in Darfur by Aug. 29.
The UN estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan's armed forces and the militias cracked down on non-Arab minorities supporting the rebels.
Well over 1 million more people have fled their homes, with up to 200,000 seeking refuge in neighboring Chad.
Human Rights Watch reported last week that Khartoum has allowed the militias to rape, assault and loot civilians, and to drive more people from their homes.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese