Janjaweed Leader says he will lay down arms if rebels do the same
KHARTOUM, August 4 (IslamOnline.net) — The leader of the Arab militias accused by Washington of being responsible for atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur said Tuesday, August 3, he is willing to lay down arms should all other warring parties do the same in compliance with the latest UN Security Council Resolution.
The latest UN Security Council Resolution concerning disarmament in Darfur should include all armed militias in the restive region, Janjaweed leader Moussa Hilal said In an exclusive interview with IslamOnline.net.
“If disarmament is not all-encompassing, no body will care,” he told IOL. “It makes no sense to disarm and leave us all by ourselves facing bloody revenge sprees and ethnic cleansing.”
He was referring to a provision in the UNSC resolution, which condemned “all acts of violence and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all parties to the crisis, in particular by the Janjaweed, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians, rapes, forced displacements, and acts of violence especially those with an ethnic dimension”.
The UNSC threatened Sudan with punitive measures if it failed to rein in the Arab militias within one month.
More than 10,000 people are said to have died in Darfur since the revolt against the government broke out among indigenous ethnic minorities in February 2003.
The United Nations has labeled the 16-month-old conflict as the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis, amid mixed reports putting the number of people killed at 10,000 to 50,000 and over one million forced to flee their homes.
Western media and countries alleged that systematic ethnic cleansing and mass rapes were taking place in the 125,000-square miles Darfur – almost the size of the United Kingdom .
But Dr. Hussein Gezairy, Regional Director of World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, told IslamOnline.net Thursday, July 29, that the situation in the restive area did not amount to genocide or ethnic cleansing as claimed.
On Monday, August 2, The Guardian reported that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is making the case for a “colonial war” against Sudan because of its growing oil reserves, as there are no signs of highly-touted claims of genocide in the Arab country.
Another Quagmire
Hilal said rebels in Darfur are misleading the United States and the UNSC by making “much fuss about nothing”.
“I warn that Sudan will be another quagmire for the US whose intelligence services had misled them into an Iraqi swamp that badly tarnished the US image in the eyes of the peoples of the region and left its interests vulnerable,” he warned.
Hilal categorically denied responsibility for acts of violence in Darfur , including arsons and mass rapes, saying they are mere calumnies fabricated by the rebels.
He particularly blamed the Justice and Equality Movement for blemishing his reputation, asserting that its leaders tried to forge an alliance with him to defeat the government forces.
“I don’t mind them taking any action against me, but it should be based on fair investigation and counts of an independent fact-finding commission.
“I’m pretty sure that a fair trial will do justice to me and redeem my reputation,” he added.
Reconciliation Conference
Hilal also called for holding a reconciliation conference brining together the leaders of all tribes in Darfur to realize peace for the welfare of all Darfuris, Arabs and Africans alike.
“We only stick to our right to existence?We have been here for hundreds of years and reject any solution to the crisis that ignores our rights as it will end up with creating another [John] Garang,” the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Sudan ‘s Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail had warned that the Sudanese army would fight back if foreign troops are sent to end the conflict in the Darfur region.
“If we are attacked, we will not sit silent,” Ismail had said during a visit to Turkey last month.
The main rebel groups in Darfur walked out from the African Union-mediated peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, insisting their demands must be met before they would start negotiating with Khartoum .
Taking The Brunt
Hilal further said that the Arabs in Darfur have taken the brunt of the crisis.
“The rebellion is implementing a political agenda aimed at driving us out of our homeland to break away from Sudan and establish a state in the west with no Arab population,” Hilal told IOL.
“Since 1980s, the rebels have been circulating flyers calling for expelling us and liberating Sudan from the Arabs as well they have launched systematic marauding campaigns, but our pleas fell on deaf ears.”
He said the successive governments, including the incumbent, “ignored our pressing warnings and left us facing the African militias against sepulchral silence from the international community”.
Asked why Arab Darfuris did not resort to makeshift camps, Hilal said the Arabs feel it is dishonor to leave their women and families sustain on foreign aid.
“It hurts our pride, so the men are responsible for providing for them in hard times,” he said.
Hilal also denied that he was battling the African militias in cahoots with the government.
“We have only joined the civil defense corps since the start of confrontations between the government and the rebels to defend Darfur ,” he said, noting that some 3,000 of Arab Darfuris had enrolled in the army in 2003.