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GENEVA - A top U.N. human rights investigator blamed the Sudanese government for atrocities against its civilians in the Darfur region, warning Friday that "millions of civilians" could die.
Moving to safeguard the endangered population, a U.N.-Sudan agreement finalized Friday requires Sudan's government to create safe areas in Darfur within 30 days so civilians can live without fear of attack.
The "Plan of Action for Darfur" would halt military operations by government forces, militias and rebel groups in the safe areas, likely to be set up in camps where thousands of Sudanese have taken refuge and around villages that still have large populations.
In the human rights report, Asma Jahangir, the U.N. investigator on executions, said there was "overwhelming evidence" killings in Darfur were carried out "in a coordinated manner by the armed forces of the government and government-backed militias."
"The current humanitarian disaster unfolding in Darfur, for which the government is largely responsible, has put millions of civilians at risk, and it is very likely that many will die in the months to come as a result of starvation and disease," the Pakistani lawyer said in a report based on a 13-day visit in June.
The scale of violations means they "could constitute crimes against humanity for which the government of the Sudan must bear responsibility," she said in the 26-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
The U.S. Congress has labeled the atrocities genocide, and the United Nations has described the conflict in Darfur, which began with a rebellion early last year, as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Last week the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution giving Sudan 30 days to curb the progovernment Arab militias blamed for the violence in Darfur or face diplomatic and economic penalties.
The militias, called the Janjaweed, have been blamed for violence that has killed 30,000 people, forced a million from their homes and left an estimated 2.2-million in urgent need of relief aid.
The agreement finalized Friday was reached Wednesday night by Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail and U.N. special representative Jan Pronk.