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	European leaders welcome end of Saddam"s trial but express concern about death sentence by AFP Iraq   November 6, 2006.   European leaders have welcomed the end of Saddam Hussein"s trial but expressed concern about the death sentence imposed on him.   Finland, which currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, explicitly demanded the murder-by-hanging verdict against Saddam not be carried out.   "The EU opposes capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and it should not be carried out in this case either," the Finnish presidency said in a statement. "Over the years, the European Union repeatedly condemned the systematic, widespread and extremely grave violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law committed by the regime of Saddam Hussein."   German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed the court judgement but says the European Union had "a scepticism and a rejection on principle of the death penalty".   In Italy, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Saddam''s death sentence reflected the international community''s judgement of the former Iraqi leader, even as he expressed misgivings about the sentence.   "As much as the crime appals us, our traditions and our ethics distance us from the use of the death penalty," Mr Prodi said, in remarks quoted by the ANSA news agency.   "Like any other political leader, Saddam Hussein should answer for his actions," Spain''s Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters in Uruguay, where he is attending an Ibero-American summit.   "But the death penalty is not envisaged by any European Union procedure and is not well understood in   But Britain has praised the Saddam verdict.   "I welcome that Saddam Hussein and the other defendants have faced justice and have been held to account for their crimes," Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a statement.   "Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein"s regime and it is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice."   France"s Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy expressed fears Iraq"s bloody sectarian strife could worsen as a result of the death sentence.   "I hope this decision will not lead to new tensions and that the Iraqis will show restraint, whatever community they belong to," Mr Douste-Blazy said.   "This decision belongs to the Iraqi people."   But he added France and its EU partners would try to make their anti-death penalty stance known to Iraqi authorities.   Abolishing the death penalty is one condition for EU membership and in 1998 the block decided to spearhead the universal abolition of capital punishment and address the issue in its relations with all countries where the death penalty is legal.   UN human rights chief Louise Arbour called for a moratorium on executions in Iraq following Saddam"s verdict.   She also called for the rights of defendants to a fair appeal to be "fully respected".   "A credible appeals process is an essential part of fair-trial guarantees," she said in a statement.   "Guaranteeing the right of a fair trial of persons accused of major human rights violations is key to consolidating and strengthening the very important process of ensuring justice and countering impunity that Iraq has embarked upon."
	UN rights chief calls for probe after children killed in Darfur attack by Human Rights First / AFP Sudan   13 Nov 2006   Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) under attack in Sudan. (Human Rights First)   The first ten months of 2006 has seen a significant deterioration in the conditions faced by the many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to bring relief to the civilian population devastated by the Darfur conflict and to expose violations of human rights.   Jan Pronk, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Sudan, said in August 2006 that the number of attacks on NGOs in Darfur was 75 percent higher in the first half of 2006 than in the previous year.   He also reported at that time that the number of attacks on members of the African Union peacekeeping force had increased by 900 percent compared with 2005.   Since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in May 2006, bouts of inter-rebel fighting and military operations by the Government of Sudan have brought about a drastic increase in the overall level of violence in the region.   July was the worst month to date for attacks on humanitarian workers, with nine deaths. By October, the total number killed this year had reached twelve.   Operating in such conditions, NGOs and humanitarian aid workers are often unable to seek safety for themselves or for the people that they are trying to help.   The first half of 2006 saw a significant deterioration in the already difficult conditions faced by the many of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to bring relief to the civilian population devastated by the Darfur conflict.   The humanitarian operation in Darfur is the world"s largest, with 14,000 aid workers from both Sudanese and international NGOs on the ground. Other NGOs in Darfur work to monitor and expose the grave violations of human rights that have been commonplace throughout the conflict.   The Sudanese government has a long history of persecution of NGOs and human rights defenders throughout the country. It has consistently inhibited the ability of those organizations and individuals to bring relief to Sudan"s large conflict-affected populations, and has been particularly harsh on those attempting to document and publicize human rights violations.   It has also demonstrated a long-held suspicion of international organizations operating within its borders, as exemplified in a law passed in February 2006 (the Organization of Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act), which requires "non-interference by foreign and international organizations in the internal affairs of the Sudan, to the extent that these infringe upon the sovereignty of the country".   This kind of obstruction has intensified in the Darfur region since the outbreak of conflict and the beginning of the massive relief operation there in 2003. As well as obstruction from the government, humanitarian aid agencies have frequently been victims of attacks, usually robberies of food and equipment, by rebel and government-backed militias.   Geneva, Nov 3, 2006   UN rights chief calls for probe after children killed in Darfur attack. (AFP)   The UN human rights chief, Louise Arbour, on Friday called for an urgent investigation by Sudan into militia attacks in Darfur last month that left at least 50 dead including scores of children.   At least 26 children were killed, 21 of them under the age of 10, the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report on the west Darfur attacks on civilians in eight villages and a camp for displaced people in the Jebel Moon area.   Some 7,000 people fled the area, the report also said.   Arbour said the violence "at the very least demonstrated the government of Sudan"s continued failure to disarm militia in Darfur, and at worse its use of militia forces that target civilian populations."   "The government of Sudan must urgently conduct an impartial, timely and transparent investigation into the attacks on October 29, 2006," she concluded in the report.   The probe must prosecute those who "planned, orchestrated and conducted the attacks" and identify those responsible for the Sudanese army"s failure to intervene even though they were based nearby, Arbour said.   She also urged Khartoum to respect its international legal obligations and to "take action" to disarm militia in the region.   The report, based on eyewitness testimony and village lists collected by UN monitors in the region, said there were 300 to 500 attackers from a local Arab tribe were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.   Witnesses said they wore brand new uniforms and were accompanied by three men with the insignia of Sudanese army officers, the report said.   Several witnesses quoted by the United Nations described seeing cold-blooded killings of children when the attackers ransacked villages, including a woman whose four-year-old was pulled from her grasp and shot dead.   "Four children escaped in a group and ran under a tree for protection. An attacker came and shot at them, killing one of the children," a witness was quoted as saying.   "Another group of three children (five, seven and nine years-old) were running in line. The five-year-old fell down and was shot dead," the witness reportedly added.   One of the attackers reportedly told a boy who pleaded with him: "If I let you go then you will grow up." The boy was then shot, the report said.   On Thursday in New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the attacks in Jebel Moon and appealed to Khartoum to stop the killings.   At least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes in Darfur since a rebellion against the Khartoum government broke out in early 2003, prompting a violent backlash by Sudanese military and allied militia.   The report said a local governor established an investigative committee after UN monitors complained, but similar probes announced in the past have never been completed and failed to bring anyone to justice. 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