Ten Janjaweed militiamen have been sentenced to six years in jail and each will have his right hand and left leg amputated in the first conviction by a special tribunal in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) reported on Monday.
The 10 Arab fighters were convicted of committing crimes against the western region’s black population including assault, waging war, murder, armed robbery and the illegal possession of firearms.
The trial in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, is the first in a process of bringing government-backed militia elements and other armed groups in the region to justice for alleged atrocities against civilians.
The SMC, a media outlet with close links to the government, said the tribunal ordered the amputations in accordance with Islamic law.
The tribunal also confiscated the defendants’ weapons and fined them one million Sudanese pounds ($400) each.
International humanitarian groups estimate that at least 10 000 people have died in the Darfur conflict, which has been exacerbated by a reign of terror unleashed by militia groups such as the notorious Janjaweed, which the international community has repeatedly urged Khartoum to disarm and disband.
The SMC said proceedings were set to continue on Monday with a number of Janjaweed suspects accused of torching the Hallouf village, north of Nyala, on an unspecified date.
The Darfur conflict pits government forces and allied militia against rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which have accused successive regimes in Khartoum of neglecting their region.
The trial of the Janjaweed suspects coincided with efforts by a local Arab chief, accused in the Western media of masterminding the Janjaweed campaign, to distance himself from the group.
Mussa Hilal, sheikh of the Arab Mahamid tribe, said in an interview with the Sudanese daily Akhbar al-Youm that he was surprised by the accusations, adding that the Janjaweed are ”a group of highway robbers” whose members came from all the tribes in Darfur — and not just Arab tribes.
Press reports said United States Secretary of State Colin Powell had demanded from the Khartoum government during his recent visit there that it specifically prosecute a group of five or six suspected Janjaweed leaders — and Hilal’s name was said to be high on the list.
Hilal disclosed to the Sudanese daily that he recently met the US charge d’affaires in Khartoum, Gerard Gallucci, to explain the Arab tribes’ views on resolving the Darfur crisis.
Meanwhile, a group of Arab tribal leaders from Darfur are said to be planning to present a memorandum to Gallucci protesting what they see as Washington’s double standards in the conflict.
They point to the presence in the US of dissidents such as Ahmed Ibrahim Diraij, whom they accuse of fanning the conflict.
The Arab chiefs accuse Diraij of providing the international organisations with ”erroneous and misleading” information about Sudan, noting that he has been absent from the country for the past 20 years.
They allege in the memorandum that the war was instigated by militias from the non-Arab Fur, Zaghawa and Massaleit tribes, which ”aim at driving the Arab tribes out of Darfur”. — Sapa-AFP