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Sudan to Disarm Arab Militias

This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
July 4, 2004
Posted to the web July 5, 2004
Lagos
Sudan pledged on Saturday to disarm Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, who have
driven more than one million Africans from their homes in west Sudan's Darfur
region and to accept human rights monitors in the area.
"The government of Sudan commits itself to ... Immediately start to disarm the
Janjaweed and other armed outlaw groups," it said in a communique issued
jointly with the United Nations and signed at Khartoum airport before the
departure of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan has been visiting Sudan and neighboring Chad, including refugee camps in
both countries, to assess the situation and put pressure on the Sudanese
government to give aid agencies and monitors greater access to displaced
villagers.
The United Nations says two million people have been caught up in fighting in
Darfur between Arab nomads and African villagers, and that the resulting flood
of African refugees has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
A long conflict between nomadic Arab tribes and African farming communities
over scarce resources in Darfur intensified when a rebellion broke out last
year, and rebels accuse Khartoum of arming the Janjaweed militia. The
government denies this.
About 200,000 people have fled to Chad and aid agencies have said thousands
could die of disease and hunger during the coming rainy season unless a massive
aid operation is set up.
The United States raised the possibility on Friday of sanctions against Sudan
if the government did not stop the militia attacks in Darfur.
The Bush administration has circulated a draft resolution that would impose an
arms embargo and travel ban on the Janjaweed, and U.S. officials briefed the
U.N. Security Council on Friday on the Darfur humanitarian crisis.

   

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