UN rights body steps up pressure on Sudan over Darfur

GENEVA, (Reuters)

The United Nations' top human rights body on Friday stepped up the pressure on Sudan over Darfur, but stopped short of blaming Khartoum for widespread killings and rape in its vast western region.

A resolution, passed unanimously by the 47-state Human Rights Council, expressed deep concern at the "seriousness of ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur".

The text, agreed after days of hard wrangling between European and African states, instructed Council special investigators into abuse, including torture and violence against women, to scrutinise Khartoum's compliance with past international recommendations and report back in June.

"The decision is a success for the European Union, it is a success for Africa, it is a success for the Human Rights Council and we hope very much that it will be a success for the people of Darfur," said ambassador Michael Steiner of Germany, whose country holds the EU presidency.

More than 200,000 people are believed to have died and some 2.5 million have been driven from their homes into squalid camps since simmering ethnic conflict erupted into revolt in 2003.

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch welcomed the move by the Council, which has been reluctant to act on Darfur.

But they criticised its failure to denounce the role of Khartoum and its militia allies in the abuses.

In New York, Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, praised the Council's "very positive" action but said no human rights campaigner could be satisfied until there was a "final peace settlement, full humanitarian access and until the people of Darfur are safe and free."