Sudanese leader orders disarming of Arab militias

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir ordered tribal leaders in the Darfur region to form security forces to disarm Arab militias blamed for a rampage of violence that has killed 30,000 people during an 18-month conflict.

The decision, announced late Thursday after two days of talks between government officials and Darfur tribal chiefs, comes amid intense international pressure to end the Darfur crisis, which has chased more than 1 million people from their homes.

The United Nations describes Darfur's plight as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The European Union, United States and humanitarian groups accuse el-Bashir's government of backing the Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, with vehicles, helicopters and airplanes -- a charge denied by Sudanese officials.

It was not clear how effective the government's move would be. Despite previous efforts to restore order, including the deployment of police to the troubled region, U.N. officials and aid groups say fighting and other violence continues.

On Friday, a skirmish broke out between Arabs and Africans from Darfur living in camps for displaced people, killing an Arab man in the care of an international aid organization, Sudan's official news agency, SUNA, reported.

Madbou Ahmed Abdul Rahman was beaten to death by a crowd of Africans when he and 16 others from his camp -- accompanied by workers from CARE international -- arrived at another displaced camp occupied mostly by African tribes, SUNA reported.

The visitors were going to attend a health training program at the camp, located outside Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, the report said. CARE officials contacted in London said they were unaware of the incident.

Darfur's troubles stem from long-standing tensions between nomadic Arab tribes and African farm communities over dwindling water and agricultural land in the vast, arid region of western Sudan.

Those tensions exploded in February 2003 when two African rebel groups, the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, took up arms over what they regard as unjust treatment by the government. Since then, the Janjaweed have burned villages and slaughtered farmers across the region.

According to a government communique issued Thursday, al-Bashir ordered some 100 tribes in Sudan's three Darfur states to create their own security forces, including armed camel riders, to disarm the militias.

The Civil Administration of Darfur's Grand States, which comprises the region's tribes, also was told to work with 6,000 police sent to disarm the Janjaweed. The communique said the Civil Administration would take charge of dealing with neighboring states "to hand in wanted outlawed persons to Sudanese authorities and control weapon smuggling across borders."

The communique said tribal leaders should "re-establish social bonds" between Darfur's Arab and African communities and "grant financial compensation for those who hand in their weapons."

On July 30, the U.N. Security Council gave Sudan 30 days to quell ethnic violence in Darfur or face economic or diplomatic penalties.

Sudanese officials and the Arab League said the government needed more time to end the crisis and rejected the threat of U.N. penalties. But el-Bashir's government agreed to comply with the resolution and this week signed an agreement with the United Nations to establish "safe areas" in Darfur within 30 days where civilians will be free of attack.

The fighting has left some 2.2 million people in Darfur in urgent need food and other aid, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program.

On Friday, the aid agency said it had reached a deal with the both rebel groups to allow truck deliveries of food to Darfur areas under their control.

"They have assured us that our convoys won't be subjected to bureaucratic and other delays," spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said in Geneva.

Fighters claiming to be rebels have held up and looted aid trucks in recent weeks, she noted.

Sudanese government and rebel officials have indicated they will attend a new round of peace talks set for Aug. 23 hosted by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman of the African Union.

The African Union has sent a 300-soldier force to Darfur to monitor a barely respected cease-fire that took effect in April. The group also is considering sending a peacekeeping force of 2,000 soldiers to the region but has not reached an agreement with Sudan's government.

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