Arabs join rebels in Darfur fight
(AP)Updated: 2007-03-19 08:51
The Arab-dominated Sudanese central government in Khartoum denies controlling the janjaweed, whom it describes as bandits. But the International Criminal Court last month accused a senior government official and a janjaweed leader of crimes against humanity and said their campaign was coordinated.
The Sudanese government has decided to suspend all cooperation with the International Criminal Court in response to the accusations, the justice minister and a pro-government newspaper said Sunday.
"They want to try Sudanese citizens, which is absolutely nonsensical," Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi told the AP on the telephone from Geneva, where he was attending a UN Human Rights Council meeting.
Overall, more than 200,000 people in Darfur have been killed since 2003, and more than 2.5 million people, largely African villagers, now live in massive refugee camps scattered across Darfur and spilling over into neighboring Chad.
Darfur itself is being carved up. The ethnic African rebels of SLA now control a vast section of northern Darfur that is now practically empty of any Arab nomads and mostly inhabited by ethnic Africans from the Zaghawa tribe.
But other sections of Darfur - like Jebbel Midob in northeastern Darfur - are now largely in the hands of Arab nomads brought in by the government from southern Darfur.
SLA rebel commander Mohamed Ali, whose home is in the region, said villagers who tried to return to that region from refugee camps to cultivate their land were being killed.
The Arabs "have even given the place a new name, Waha, to make it sound like it's always been theirs," he said.
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