Sudan denies “Janjaweed militia” gathering in Darfur

Feb 21, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The governor of West Darfur Wednesday described as “unfounded” a report by the U.N. warning that a significant number of Arab militia, suspected to be the pro-government janjaweed, is assembling in Sudan’s Darfur and that its purposes are not known.

Jaffar Abdul Hakam Taifour said he had read the reports, but the security situation in West Darfur state was actually better than ever.

“There are not janjaweed militia or any other military build-up in this area and the whole state is stable,” Taifour told The Associated Press in a phone call from El-Genaina.

“The proof is that we had delegates coming from the state’s 13 districts to a conference in Zalingei (a town south west of El-Genaina) this week and they all returned safely home,” he said.

The janjaweed is a militia that has been blamed by U.N. and African Union officials for numerous cases of rape, arson, looting and killing during the four-year conflict in Darfur. The officials accuse the Khartoum government of arming the janjaweed and coordinating regular military operations with it -charges that the government denies.

In a report released this week, the U.N. in Khartoum said that the militia, “suspected to be janjaweed,” was reported gathering about 75 kilometers (47 miles) northeast of El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

The reason for the gathering was not known, U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said. She declined to say how many people were in the assembled militia.

A 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force has been trying to stop the ongoing violence, but the force is underfunded and ill-equipped. Several attempts to reach the A.U. in Sudan to confirm the U.N. report went unanswered Wednesday.

(AP)