Human Rights Watch calls for the Arab League to take a strong stance on the genocide in Darfur: At its emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Darfur, the Arab League should firmly condemn the gross human rights violations by Sudanese government forces and the government-backed Janjaweed militias in this western region of Sudan, Human Rights Watch said today. The pan-Arab group should also make public the report of its May fact-finding mission to the region. At the request of the Sudanese government, foreign ministers of the Arab League—a regional grouping of 22 countries including Sudan—will meet in Cairo to discuss and state a common Arab position on the Darfur conflict. “Allowing the Sudanese government to hide its crimes behind Arab solidarity would be an insult to more than one million Muslim victims in Darfur,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director for Human Rights Watch’s Africa division. “The Arab League should stand behind the victims in Darfur and take concrete steps to ensure that civilians are protected from further crimes.” In May, the pan-Arab group sent a commission of inquiry to Darfur. The investigation reportedly concluded that “massive violations of human rights [had been] committed by pro-government militias” in Darfur. However, after the Sudanese government vigorously protested the report’s findings at the Arab League summit in Tunis in late May, the Arab League report has not been made public.