Darfur former rebel says govt rearming militia
Nov 27, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Former Darfur rebel turned presidential adviser Minni Arcua Minnawi on Monday accused the Sudanese government of rearming and mobilising the feared Janjaweed militia, violating a peace deal signed in May.
He also urged the international community to take action rather than just talk about the Darfur conflict, which has killed 200,000 and driven 2.5 million people from their homes in the vast region in the west of Sudan.
“Everybody knows that the government is rearming the Janjaweed,” Minnawi said in an interview. “Absolutely, it is proven and I am sure that it is true,” he said.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003, accusing central government of marginalising the remote west. Khartoum mobilised tribal militias to quell the revolt.
Those militias stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage which Washington calls genocide. Khartoum denies genocide and any links to the Janjaweed, calling them bandits.
Minnawi became a presidential adviser with special powers over Darfur under the May peace deal which he signed, but which two other rebel factions rejected. The government also undertook to disarm the Janjaweed by Oct. 22.
But since the deal, violence has only escalated in Darfur. Those rebels who reject the deal renewed hostilities in June and militia are still attacking civilians in West and North Darfur.
Minnawi said he had told President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to stop mobilising the Janjaweed, a term loosely derived from the Arabic for “devils on horseback”.
“This is clear, Janjaweed are activating even more than before,” he said. “It is a violation.”
Since signing the deal, Minnawi has lost territory in Darfur to rival rebel factions and has had little influence over Khartoum’s policy in the region.
On Sunday rebels from the new National Redemption Front alliance said they captured the Abu Jabra oil installation in the Kordofan region neighbouring Darfur and shot down a government helicopter.
The Sudanese armed forces spokesman on Monday confirmed the NRF attack on Abu Jabra but said it had been repelled.
“They just did some small damage and looting from the very few houses in the area,” the spokesman told Reuters. The United Nations said it had reports the rebels had vacated the area.
Minnawi said the NRF needed to be condemned as well as the government. Sitting in his small office in an annexe to the Republican Palace, Minnawi also said the international community, including the United Nations and the African Union who witnessed the May peace accord, needed to act.
“Condemnation is not enough. They know what they should do,” he said. “They are just talking, talking, talking, without anything (else) — they have to take action.”
The young former rebel called for the government to work more closely with him.
“There is need for cooperation more than this,” he said. For example, he said he had not yet seen a communique from Addis Ababa nearly two weeks ago in which the government, AU and U.N. agreed on parameters for U.N. support for an ill-equipped AU force in Darfur.
(Reuters)