Outcry over Sudan appointment
Rights groups say new presidential adviser co-ordinated atrocities in Darfur.
“He thought their cause was not right, he thought of what happened as defence of his own nation,” Vall said.
“But he denied that what he led was the so-called Janjawid, and he denied human rights violations in Darfur.”
Janjawid ‘poster boy’
Human Rights Watch has urged Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, to press al-Bashir to revoke the appointment and investigate Hilal.
“Musa Hilal is the poster child for Janjawid atrocities in Darfur,” Richard Dicker, international justice programme director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Rewarding him with a special government post is a slap in the face to Darfur victims and to the UN Security Council.”
Ahmed Haroun, secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, and Ali Kosheib, a pro-government militia leader, have already been accused of war crimes in Darfur.
Last May, the Hague-based international criminal court issued arrest warrants for both men.
Ethnic cleansing
Human Rights Watch said that “Hilal and his men played an integral role in the two-year campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese army and Janjawid militia.”
“Rewarding him with a special government post is a slap in the face to Darfur victims and to the UN Security Council” Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch |
“Scores of victims, witnesses to attacks, and even members of the Sudanese armed forces have named Hilal as the top commander of government-backed Janjawid militia responsible for numerous atrocities in Darfur in 2003 and 2004,” it said.
According to UN estimates, more than 200,000 people have died and more than two million have been displaced in Darfur as a result of the combined effect of war, famine and disease since the conflict erupted.
However, Mekki al-Maghrabi, a Sudanese columnist, said that Hilal’s appointment was worth the risk for the ruling National Congress Party, even if he could be tried by a international court.
“The transfer of a tribal leader to a political post is a good step which will open the door to more settlements,” he said.
Tayeb Khamis, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Movement, a rebel faction whose leader has signed a peace deal with Khartoum, said that Hilal’s appointment might prevent Arab tribes from turning away from the government.