Janjaweed leader launches social initiative to end Darfur crisis

April 18, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A Darfur Janjaweed militia leader, recently appointed as adviser at the ministry for the ministry of federal government, launched a social initiative to end Darfur crisis and to achieve peaceful coexistence among different ethnic components.

The leader of the Mahamid tribe told leaders of the native administration on Thursday at the ministry of Federal Government in Khartoum that the problem of Darfur had reached a dark tunnel and need the efforts of its sons to be resolved.

He disclosed that he had met the head of the national security and intelligence service, Salah Abdalla Gosh in his capacity as one of the people active in the Darfur dossier and that he had welcomed the native administrations’ efforts to resolve the crisis.

He said they would be meeting the Presidential Assistant, Nafi Ali Nafi, Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and the President Omer al-Bashir to build a strong backing for the initiative called the Ministry of Federal Government’s initiative for peace and mending the social fabric in Darfur.

Hilal said a council had been formed including 62 of the native administration’s leaders and elders and explained that the initiative was humanitarian and not related to the political dossier, security arrangements and international agreements and that it would participate in achieving the voluntary return of IDPs and refugees.

The Council of this initiative consists of Sultan Saad Abdel-Rahman Mohammed Bahr Eddin, Mohamed Hassan Brko, Mansour Dossa, al-Malik al-Tom Sabah, Ashartay Adam Sabi, Ashartay Jaafar Abdel-Hakam, Gen. Adam Hamid, Brigadier Zayed Issa and others….

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.

Hilal appointment as adviser early January of this year comes as part of Khartoum policy to stop the rebellion of Janjaweed leaders who turned against Khartoum. Many militia leaders had said that Khartoum pledged to give them high level positions in the federal government and Darfur.

The UN Security Council imposed travel and financial sanctions on Hilal and three other individuals in April 2006. The US president George Bush issued an executive order enforcing similar sanctions on them.

(ST)