Sudan announces plan to disarm Janjaweed

Oct 16, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government has drawn up a plan to disarm Darfur’s feared Janjaweed militia in two months, newspapers reported Monday.

“A plan to disarm the Janjaweed has been drafted and submitted to the African Union,” cabinet spokesman Omar Mohammed Saleh told the English-language daily The Citizen.

“This plan will be implemented over the two coming months,” he said after Sunday’s cabinet meeting, which was dedicated to the implementation of a peace agreement signed in May.

The May 5 Abuja peace deal signed between Khartoum and the main rebel faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement calls for the disarmament of the pro-government Janjaweed militia, accused by Washington of genocide.

The peace deal has failed to take hold however, with the other two rebel factions that took part in the talks rejecting it and Khartoum refusing to welcome UN peacekeepers to replace a stretched AU contingent.

The reports did not specify how the government intended to disarm the Janjaweed.

At least 200,000 people have died from fighting, famine and disease, and more than two million have fled their homes since fighting erupted in Darfur in February 2003 between ethnic minority rebels and pro-government militia.

The African Union announced last week it was reviving its idea of reconciliation talks in Darfur, which would discuss issues left unsolved by the peace deal, notably that of the Janjaweed’s disarmament.

Saleh said Sunday’s cabinet meeting had also decided to create a high commission headed by President Omar al-Beshir and tasked with “salvaging the peace agreement… and facilitating reconciliation between Darfur’s tribes.”

(AFP)