News Article by NYT posted on August 06, 2004 at 11:10:27: EST (-5 GMT)
Militias' unclear identity clouds solution in Sudan
New York Times
Marc Lacey
August 06, 2004
Khartoum accused of exploiting situation.
NYALA,
Sudan Sudan's government lined up 50 prisoners at the main jail here
recently and offered them as evidence to the world that it was cracking
down on the militias that have stained so much of the desert sand of
Darfur, the country's western region, with blood.
But when the men spoke and when their court files were reviewed, it quickly became clear that many of them were not members of the militias, which have displaced a million villagers in the last year and a half and killed tens of thousands.
Among the group were petty criminals who had been in jail as long as four years. One man's charge was drinking wine in a country that forbids it.
The United Nations Security Council has given Sudan until Aug. 30 to rein in the militias, the Janjaweed, Arab tribesmen whom the government armed and then unleashed in Darfur to quell a rebellion among darker-skinned Africans that began in early 2003. Sudan's foreign minister and a UN envoy agreed on Thursday on next steps, according to news reports.
Failure to disarm the militias could mean sanctions against the government in Khartoum. But Janjaweed is a fluid identity, and diplomats here say the government has exploited the ambiguity. First it armed the militias, rallied them and set them loose in Darfur. Then it gave many of the same men uniforms and declared them upholders of the law. Sometimes the Janjaweed have served as law enforcement officers by day and reverted to pillaging at night. The government says it has sent thousands of security officers to Darfur to impose order and plans to send thousands more. But whether the government is bringing the Janjaweed to heel, or even whether it can, is far from clear.
"If you sent 200 soldiers out to get the Janjaweed, maybe 50 of them would probably be Janjaweed themselves," said Osman Mirghani, a prominent columnist for the Sudanese newspaper Al Rayaam who has written frequently and frankly about the conflict in Darfur. "A Janjaweed is a Janjaweed when he is on his horse with his gun, going to burn and kill," Mirghani said. "But when he comes back to his village and hides his gun he is no different than anyone else. Maybe he's a policeman during the day and a Janjaweed at night."
Indeed, in many cases the government has provided the Janjaweed with uniforms, identification cards and commissions in the police, army or popular defense force, according to interviews with aid workers, local human rights advocates and others. As far as the government is concerned they are no longer Janjaweed.
"I'm a soldier now," said one such new recruit, an Arab teenager who was smiling as he cradled his assault rifle. He was speaking to his schoolteacher, a black African, who had seen him with Janjaweed leaders.
Without their guns and horses, without the head wraps they use to shield themselves from Darfur's searing heat and blowing wind, the Janjaweed blend easily into the local population. When not in government-issued camouflage uniforms, they wear the long white robes common among Sudanese.
Some sit behind desks when they are not pillaging. Others herd camels by day but do unspeakable things once the desert turns dark at night.
Further muddying things, the government accuses the rebels, who call themselves the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, of using camels during some of their attacks, pretending to be Janjaweed in an attempt to smear officials in Khartoum.
To avoid confusion, some have stopped using the term Janjaweed altogether. The term itself is an amalgam of Arabic words that roughly translates as "a devil on horseback with a gun." No one would ever admit to being one.
"'Janjaweed' is a catchall phrase that means different things to different people," said the British ambassador to Sudan, William Patey. "We need to be specific about what we mean, namely bandits, tribal militias or elements of the popular defense forces."
Not all of the Arab fighters one encounters in Darfur have followed the government's script. Some are loyal only to themselves, roaming the countryside as criminals always have and taking advantage of the chaos. They take on anyone they encounter, including other Janjaweed.
As for the convicts squatting in the dirt in Nyala's jail, there were drug dealers, murderers and thieves. Just who was a Janjaweed militiaman remained a matter of interpretation. None of the men would acknowledge having been a part of the loose bands of Arab fighters. It was far easier to pick out who had nothing to do with Darfur's current chaos. There were prisoners who had been arrested two, three, even four years ago. Many others were picked up for the kinds of theft, killing and other crime that has always been a part of this long-neglected part of Sudan.
There were six men, including two fathers and their sons, who were accused torching a village north of Nyala called Haloof, killing 23 villagers, wounding nine others and stealing the residents' cows and goats.
"They say I am a
Janjaweed," said Suleiman Muhammad Shariff, 74, an elder in an Arab
tribe accused of attacking Haloof. "It's not true."