UNHCR says Janjaweed militia continues attacks in Darfur

CAIRO, Egypt, Oct 19, 2004 (AP) — The Janjaweed militia attacked two Darfur villages in recent days, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday, demonstrating a group the Sudanese government is committed to disarming continues violent actions.

Soldiers in a miltary unit calling themselves variously the Border Intelligence Division, Second Reconnaisance Brigade, or the Quick and the Horrible, also believed to form part of the Janjaweed militia, walk around the weekly animal market in Mistiria in North Darfur, Sudan, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004. Mistiria is the home town and base of Musa Hilal, the alleged coordinator of the militia known as the Janjaweed who have been accused of committing atrocities in the conflict in Darfur. AP.

The attacks on the villages of Abu Surug and Bir Seiba on Saturday reportedly left 11 people dead, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in a statement issued in Geneva.

On Sunday, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir was one of five African presidents who took part in a summit in Tripoli on the Darfur crisis, which ended with the leaders saying they hoped the Sudanese government would “comply with the demands of the Security Council’s resolutions 1556 and 1564.”

Those resolutions demand that the Sudanese government disarm all militias and restore peace to the western Sudanese region, where a 20-month conflict has killed some 70,000 people and displaced another 1.5 million. Sudan has criticized the resolutions as one-sided, but said it will comply with them.

Redmond said the Janjaweed attack was part of “a general problem of insecurity.”

He referred to an attack on a police station at Masteri on Oct. 10 that was allegedly carried out by one of Darfur’s two rebel groups.

Both the Janjaweed and the rebel attacks caused parts of Darfur to become temporary “no go” areas for aid groups trying to deliver supplies to displaced people, Redmond said.

Sudan ‘s government has denied widespread allegations that it backs the Janjaweed, an Arab militia accused of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur’s people of African origin. The rebel groups come from the African community.

Redmond added that people in Darfur’s camps for displaced people were complaining that Sudanese police refused to venture outside of the camps to help victims of rape and other violence in nearby settlements.

The rebels and the government are scheduled to resume peace talks in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Thursday. Their talks in September collapsed.