W.Sudan militia attacking civilians in Chad-group

CAIRO, June 22 (Reuters) – Arab militias, supported by the Sudanese government, are crossing into Chad to attack local villagers and refugees from the Darfur conflict, a human rights organisation said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Aid workers have said 158,000 refugees from the western Darfur Sudanese region have fled to neighbouring Chad to escape fighting, which broke out in February 2003.

Two rebel groups launched an uprising in the region accusing the government of neglect and of arming Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to loot and burn African villages.

The government says it does not back the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.

“Human Rights Watch documented at least seven cross-border incursions into Chad conducted by the Janjaweed militias since early June. The Janjaweed attack villages in Chad and refugees from Darfur, and also steal cattle,” the New York-based organisation said in its statement.

Chad’s army killed 69 Janjaweed fighters in a clash near the border last week, a source close to Chadian President Idriss Deby said.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ordered on Saturday “complete mobilisation” to disarm all illegal armed groups in Darfur, including the Janjaweed.

The United States threatened last week to impose sanctions on Sudanese officials as a way of intensifying pressure to help ease Darfur’s humanitarian crisis, described by United Nations officials as the world’s worst.

Human Rights Watch said the Khartoum government must take responsibility for the raids.

“The Janjaweed is the government’s militia, and Khartoum has armed and empowered it to conduct `ethnic cleansing’ in Darfur,” the statement quoted Jemera Rone, the group’s Sudan researcher, as saying.

Both rebel groups signed a truce with the government on April 8, but each side has since accused the other of truce violations. A Sudanese government team left for Paris on Monday for talks with the rebel Justice and Equality group.