A top official from Sudan’s ruling party said on Thursday the government will not disarm ”Arab tribes” in the troubled Darfur region, saying they are not all members of the feared Janjaweed militia.
”The government and international community are not in agreement over the definition of the Janjaweed,” National Congress party secretary general Ibrahim Omar told a press conference in Cairo.
”We do not consider Arab tribes and their leaders Janjaweed,” he said, while the international community appears to consider all Arab tribes in Darfur Janjaweed.
However, he said the government in Khartoum is disarming outlawed gangs — made up of criminal elements from Arab and African tribes — that Sudan considers Janjaweed.
The Sudanese government is under intense pressure from the international community to disarm the Janjaweed, blamed for many of the atrocities in the Darfur region in 19 months of conflict.
”Disarming the Janjaweed as we understand it, has begun, but disarming the Janjaweed as the international community defines them is unacceptable,” Omar said.
The international community and humanitarian agencies say the Janjaweed are armed by the government to fight alongside its soldiers against Darfur rebels and accuse the militia of numerous atrocities against Darfur’s black African farmers, including rape, murder and the wholesale destruction of villages.
About 50 000 people have been killed and 1,4-million displaced in the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, which pits government forces and their Arab militia allies against Darfur rebels, according to United Nations estimates.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution last Saturday calling for an investigation into charges of human rights violations and genocide in Darfur, and warned Sudan of possible sanctions against its oil industry unless it protects the region’s population.
Some say the term Janjaweed originated from two Arabic words: ”djan” or ”djin” (devil) and ”djawad” (horse), hence their nickname ”devils on horseback”.
International aid agencies have voiced concern that instead of disarming and disbanding the Janjaweed, the government is incorporating them into the regular forces, mainly the army and police, and assigning them to guard camps for displaced persons in Darfur. — Sapa-AFP