Sudan denies hosting Janjaweed militia
ABUJA, Nigeria, Aug 28, 2004 (dpa) — Sudan denied reports Saturday by New York-based Human Rights Watch that its army was sharing at least five camps with Janjaweed militia blamed for ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region.
Leader of the Sudanese government delegation to the Abuja peace talks between Sudanese rebels and government, Majzoob al- Khalifa, said “it is not true. That is a mere fabrication.”
He said that if the claim was true, the latest report of a ceasefire monitoring committee on the crisis which was submitted in Abuja Saturday, would have mentioned it.
The committee was set up in April and meets monthly to evaluate compliance with a ceasefire agreement between the rebels and the Sudanese government.
Its August meeting was held in Abuja Saturday as part of the ongoing peace talks.
Al-Khalifa, who is also the Minister of Agriculture in his country, said the government had no business hosting Janjaweed militia in camps designated for displaced persons.
The United Nations has set a deadline of Monday for Khartoum to comply with its promises to disarm the militia, which it has backed as a way of suppressing a local rebel movement.
The conflict has left at least 30,000 people dead and displaced about one million people.
Human Rights Watch called for the U.N. to impose sanctions on the Sudanese government for its “failure to disarm and neutralize the Janjaweed militia” as it has promised.
The group also called for the Africa Union, which is monitoring the ceasefire, to list the names and ranks of militia and to catalogue weapons and vehicles. The lists could be used to ban government security and law enforcement work in the future, Human Rights Watch said.
Delegates at the peace talks include members of the Sudanese government, the rebel Justice and Equity Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Movement and Army.
Also in attendance as observers and facilitators at the peace talks, called by Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo in his capacity as chairman of the African Union, are delegates from the United Nations, the U.S., the E.U. and the AU.