Senior Sudanese official criticizes promotion of militia leader

By Wasil Ali

January 22, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan’s senior presidential assistant today condemned the appointment of a militia leader in a government post.

Last Wednesday Al-Bashir issued a decree appointing Musa Hilal, leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan, as an adviser for the ministry of federal government.

Officials at the Sudanese presidency denied the reports initially before confirming the appointment of Hilal later.

The leader of Arab tribes in Darfur told Miraya FM last week that he will assume his new responsibilities soon after the oath taking ceremonies.

The former rebel leader and the head of a faction of Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) said that he was not consulted on the nomination.

“It is illogical in all respects to appoint an individual like Hilal with questionable background to say the least, for a position in the government” Minnawi said.

Hilal has been named by numerous eyewitnesses in Darfur as leading terror campaign against the African tribes in the war ravaged region.

The tribal leader denied any wrongdoings and told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a videotaped interview in 2005, that he only recruited militias on behalf of Sudan’s central government.

The 46 years old was jailed by the Sudanese authorities in 1998 for leading armed robbery of the central bank in the city of Nyala in Darfur. However the First Vice president Ali Osman Taha secured his release in 2002 for unknown reasons.

Minnawi said he does not expect to meet with Hilal one on one after his appointment. However he said that the Janjaweed leader may possibly be present in governmental meetings he attends.

In May 2006, the SLM signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) with the Sudanese government and its head Minni Arcua Minnawi was appointed as the senior assistant of the Sudanese president in August.

Minnawi’s faction has grown increasingly frustrated with Khartoum’s negligence of the DPA and hinted that it is prepared to consider certain steps in its next meeting of the revolutionary council, the highest executive body in the movement, if the Sudanese government continues to stall on the implementation of the DPA.

The senior presidential assistant has distanced himself from the government’s position on issues like the handing over of war crime suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Sudan has so far refused to extradite any of its citizens to the ICC.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.

(ST)