| JAPAN: Group of Eight powers warned Friday they could take further action against Sudan at the UN Security Council unless it complies with demands to bring Darfur war crimes suspects to justice. Foreign ministers of the industrial powers called for an immediate ceasefire in the parched province, where the United Nations estimates that up to 300,000 people have died since the conflict broke out in 2003. Sudan has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands to hand over two suspects to the International Criminal Court who are accused of 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape. "We call on all parties concerned to abide by their obligations under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions; we would otherwise support further appropriate action in the UN Security Council," a G8 statement said after two days of talks in Kyoto, Japan. "We urge the government of Sudan and all other parties to participate fully with the International Criminal Court in order to put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur," said the ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed "Janjaweed militias, prompting a clampdown that the United States has branded as genocide. |
-IndiaTimes
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