UN Human Rights Council resolves to pressure Sudan over Darfur

 

GENEVA  ( 2008-03-28 02:16:43 ) : 

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday pushed through a resolution pressuring Sudan to punish those responsible for human rights violations in the Darfur region's civil war.
The document -- a compromise between European and African countries -- condemns Khartoum for its role in attacks on civilians committed in Darfur. It was adopted unanimously, without a vote, by the 47 members.
In the resolution, the Council "expresses its deep concern at the seriousness of the ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in some parts of Darfur".
International organisations estimate Darfur's ongoing five-year civil war has left 200,000 dead -- a toll Khartoum places at only 9,000 -- with around 2.2 million people displaced, out of a total population of six million.
The Council insisted Sudan "address urgently this question by thoroughly investigating all allegations of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, promptly bringing to justice the perpetrators of those violations".
However, the Council's Canadian representative said those living in Darfur "deserve better" than this resolution.
Last week, the United Nations issued a report on what it said were deliberate attacks carried out on Darfur's civilians by the Sudanese army in the past two months.
According to the investigation, these attacks in western Darfur left at least 115 dead and another 30,000 forced away from their homes, mainly in the direction of Chad.

Baghdad locked down after violent clashes

 

BAGHDAD  ( 2008-03-28 12:40:47 ) : 

Baghdad was locked down on Friday amid a weekend curfew with pedestrians and vehicles keeping off the roads after violent clashes this week between security forces and Shia fighters.
An AFP correspondent said most of the capital's main roads were deserted after the city's military command imposed a curfew since Thursday night till Sunday 5:00 am (0200 GMT).
The curfew has been imposed to contain the fighting between Shia militants and Iraqi troops, security officials told AFP.
Dozens of people have been killed in Baghdad and at least 105 countrywide in clashes since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on "lawless gangs" in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.
On Friday, Sadr City -- the bastion of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- which saw brutal clashes since Tuesday, was largely calm, an AFP correspondent said.
He said relatives in Sadr City were preparing to arrange for the funerals of those killed in the clashes.

Mohammed (PBUH) caricatures’ author plans charges against Dutch MP

COPENHAGEN  ( 2008-03-28 16:13:03 ) : 

The Danish cartoonist whose caricature of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH outraged Muslims said on Friday that he would press copyright charges against a far-right Dutch MP for reproducing it in his controversial anti-Islam video.
Kurt Westergaard's cartoon was among those that sparked a worldwide outcry and fierce debate about freedom of speech after they were first published in 2005. He said he was bringing the charge against Geert Wilders after the far-right MP published his anti-Islam video online on Thursday.
Wilders' video contains an image of Westergaard's cartoon showing the prophet with a bomb, its fuse burning, protruding from his turban.
"You can't just steal other people's works. This has nothing to do with freedom of speech, it's all about copyright," Westergaard told AFP.
"I won't accept my cartoon being taken out of its original context and used in a completely different one."
Westergaard has been in hiding since Danish police in February said they had foiled an assassination attempt against him.