WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (AFP) - US State Department investigators have completed a preliminary report on the violence in Sudan's western province of Darfur to see whether it constitutes genocide under international law, a spokesman said Wednesday, declining to give details of the report.
The New York Times said the report implicated government-backed militias in a "consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities," including murder, torture, rape and ethnic humiliation.
"There is a preliminary report, with an emphasis on preliminary. And I would not draw any conclusions about future decisions on the basis of a preliminary report," said State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli.
"As you know, as we've said before, there are teams in Chad interviewing refugees in an attempt to document what has been going on in Darfur, and that this is all part of an effort to collect the facts so that we can make an informed judgment about the nature of these incidents."
The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan's armed forces and the militias cracked down on non-Arab minorities supporting rebels who took up arms against the government early last year.
More than one million people have fled their homes, with up to 200,000 seeking refuge in neighboring Chad.