A3-0366/93

Resolution on the situation in Sudan

The European Parliament,

-having regard to its resolutions of 29 October 1992 on human rights in Sudan, 19 November 1992 on the human rights situation in Sudan, 11 February 1993 on the Visceral Leishmaniosis epidemic and starvation in Sudan, 22 April 1993 on the violation of human rights in Sudan, and 9 April 1992 on famine in Africa and Sudan,

-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Staes on the human rights situation and the war in Sudan (B3-0217/91),

-having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security and the opinion of the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A3-0366/93),

A.whereas Sudan is daily the scene of gross violations of human rights by the government, which seeks to impose its version of Islam on the whole population including the Christian and Animist population of the South and the many Muslims who are opposed to the government's interpretation of their religion,

B.aware that various factions of the SPLA opposition forces are also guilty of gross violations of human rights,

C.recognizing that the main cause of these disasters has been the attempt by successive governments in Khartoum to impose dictatorial rule and Islamic law on the Animist and Christian population of Southern Sudan, but that the rebel leaders in the South have, especially by their internal rivalries, contributed to the disaster,

D.aware that as a consequence of the disastrous policies of the government and the resulting civil war almost three million people have been deliberately displaced from their homes by the warring parties, sometimes being forcibly relocated with no warning to virtually uninhabitable areas, and that many are living on famine foods gathered in the wild and food relief provided by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations,

E.appalled by the implementation of a strict interpretation of Sharia law, which grossly discriminates against women and non-Muslims and which inflicts penalties such as execution by beheading and amputation for those not sentenced to death,

F.aware that slavery still exists in parts of the country,

G.aware that 85% of the rural population live in extreme poverty and that the rural infrastructure is rapidly being destroyed,

H.drawing attention to the appalling plight of thousands of children in the South, many of them under 10 years old, who wander from place to place seeking refuge and who are the prey of brigands as well as government and SPLA armed forces and who are without adequate supplies to sustain life;

I.outraged at the persecution of the people of Juba, and the ethnic cleansing style campaign being carried out against the Nuba and Dinka people, which has involved thousands of extrajudicial executions,

J.shocked at the total lack of basic freedoms: of speech, the press, religion, trade unions, and human rights organisations in Sudan,

K.disgusted at the violent obstructions to aid efforts inflicted by both the government and SPLA factions, including the murder of European Commission staff member Mark Laboke Jenner,

L.alarmed at the supply of weapons to the Sudanese government by Iran and China, and the training in civil suppression techniques by Iran,

M.alarmed by the evidence that Islamic fanatics from other countries are using Sudan as a base from which to inflict terrorism on neighbouring countries,

N.shocked by the pressure exerted on NGOs, which are trying to help suffering men, women and children, to organize their activities to suit the political and religious aims of the Sudanese government,

O.pointing out that because the Archbishop of Canterbury sought to show his sympathy for the persecuted Christian population the Sudanese Government expelled the British Ambassador;

1.Condemns the Sudanese Government for practising for years policies of deliberate mass violations of human rights of a brutal kind, which disqualify it from being regarded as a civilised government;

2.Insists that while these appalling abuses of human rights continue, no assistance, other than emergency food and medical aid delivered under the control of the Union or its Member States, should be provided by the Union; calls on the European Union:

-to urge the Sudanese Government to put an end to its policy of systematic and serious infringement of human rights,

-to communicate the replies received as well as developments on the ground to the European Parliament and to the Joint ACP-EEC Assembly at their respective sessions in February 1994,

-to prepare the measures necessary for the application of Article 367 of the Lomé Convention, i.e. the expulsion of Sudan from the Convention should the Sudanese Government persist in its policy of infringement of human rights;

3.Calls on the Sudanese government to respect the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Organisation of African Unity's African Charter on Human and People's rights and Article 5 of the Lomé Convention;

4.Calls on all the warring parties to honour the humanitarian principles enshrined in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 governing the treatment of persons taking no active part in hostilities;

5.Urges the establishment of a genuine ceasefire and resumption of peace talks, with human rights explicitly included as central in any negotiations;

6.Stresses the responsibility of the United Nations to promote a cease-fire and to be ready to provide observers to monitor any cease-fire agreement;

7.Calls for the Sudanese government and the SPLA to allow the free movement of people throughout Sudan, and for an end to forcible relocation of people;

8.Calls for the establishment of corridors of peace- specific agreed overland routes in Southern Sudan - for civilians to leave besieged areas, and to allow food aid to reach those most in need;

9.Calls on the Sudanese government and SPLA forces to halt obstructions to donor organizations, and allow immediate safe access by land, river and air to aid organizations;

10.Calls for the removal of the ban on the original Sudan Human Rights Organisation, the Sudan Bar Association, and other human rights organisations, and the release of Dr. Ahmed Osman Siraj, a political prisoner and trustee of the SHRO;

11.Calls for the government to account for Mohamed Nowar Aso, arrested in 1990, and not seen since, for Karshum Mano Atia, who disappeared in late 1992, and for Parmena Chot Arou and Mali Amoul, both of whom disappeared in Khartoum;

12.Calls for the release of the following political prisoners: Dr. Ibrahim el-Amin, ex-Cabinet member, Abdel-Rasoul el-Nour, former governor of Kordofan, Fadlalla Burma Nasir, former Minister of Defence, Mirghani Abdel Rahman, former Minister of Trade, Yousif Hussein, Communist Party Central Committee member, Farouk Ali Zakaria, Communist Party Central Committee member, Mukhtar Abdallah, trade union leader, Al-Haj Abdel Rahmen Nugdalla, former Minister of Religious Affairs, and Samuel Garang, engineer;

13.Calls for an end to the persecution of women and non-Muslims under the Sharia laws, and a halt to the executions, amputations and other such penalties allowed under these laws;

14.Calls for an immediate halt to the persecution of the Nuba and Dinka peoples, which amounts to ethnic cleansing;

15.Calls for the government to account for the more than one hundred people who disappeared in Juba in the summer of 1992, and the hundreds who have disappeared since;

16.Urges the restoration of religious freedoms including respect for the views of the numerous Sudanese Moslems who reject the fanatical attitude of the government;

17.Calls on the Union and its Member States to grant asylum to those Sudanese known to be directly threatened personally by the Sudanese government and to do all in their power to assist other refugees from the Sudan by providing finance and supplies to the neighbouring countries giving them refuge and to the international agencies and NGOs working on their behalf;

18.Condemns the decision of the Sudanese Government to expel the British Ambassador because the Archbishop of Canterbury wished to demonstrate his solidarity with Sudanese Anglicans and other Christians;

19.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Co-Presidents of the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly, the Secretaries-General of the UN, UNICEF, the OAU, the Arab League, and the Sudanese Government.