Darfur rebel: Janjawid re-arming

 

Minnawi said that Sudan’s re-arming of the militia could amount to a violation of the peace accord which he signed as leader of the largest faction of the Sudan Liberation Army in May 2006.

 

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003, accusing Sudan’s central government of marginalising the remote desert province.

Khartoum denies the accusations and that it has any links to the Janjawid, describing them as “bandits”. Send us your views

 

Khartoum mobilised tribal militias to quell the revolt.

 

Those militias are accused of carrying out a campaign of rape, murder and pillage which many Western nations have described as genocide.

 

Khartoum denies the accusations and that it has any links to the Janjawid, describing them as “bandits”.

 

Minnawi became a presidential adviser with special powers over Darfur under the May peace deal which he signed, but which two other rebel factions rejected.

 

 

As part of the truce, the government also undertook to disarm the Janjawid by October 22.

 

But since the deal, the violence in Darfur has escalated.

 

Rebel groups who rejected the May deal renewed hostilities in June while pro-Khartoum militia continued to attack civilians in western and northern Darfur.

 

Since signing the peace-deal with Sudan and moving to Khartoum to become a presidential advisor, Minnawi has found himself increasingly marginalised.

 

With little influence over Sudan’s government, his faction of the SLA has also lost territory to other rebel groups following infighting over the last six months.