Is Sudan taking cues from Syria's chemical weapons playbook? For years, the Assad government has gassed its own people with impunity. Although dozens of United Nations and other reports have confirmed these atrocities in Syria, the UN Security Council has not held anyone to account.
Now we have reason to fear that other notorious human rights abusers may see international inaction on Syria as a green light to use chemical weapons themselves. Amnesty International's disturbing new report about Darfur describes children covered in blisters and lesions or vomiting blood after inhaling poison gas. It says Sudanese government forces appear to have used chemical weapons in Darfur at least 30 times this year. Sudan has been a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention banning the use of these weapons since 1999. The body responsible for tracking compliance with this treaty, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), says it will look into the allegations.
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