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'Send Arms to Darfur to Fight Militias'

Business Day (Johannesburg)
NEWS
July 28, 2004
Posted to the web July 28, 2004

By Jonathan Katzenellenbogen, International Affairs Editor
Johannesburg
SUDAN has taken its campaign to forestall possible sanctions against itself to
SA.
Yesterday Mutasm Abdul Rahim, the most senior official in the Sudanese federal
education ministry and a prominent figure in the ruling National Congress
Party, said that the international community should provide support to
Khartoum's armed forces so they could launch an effective campaign against the
Janjaweed militias.
Rahim was attending a meeting in SA of education officials from African
countries.
Speaking at a press conference in Pretoria yesterday, he warned that foreign
powers risked the lives of their troops if they intervened in the region. He
said there was a possibility that the militias operating in the region would
quickly turn against them.
The Khartoum government has been accused by the United Nations of actively
supporting the Janjaweed militias, who have been involved atrocities in the
Darfur region.
But Khartoum denies this and says it does not have the military resources to go
after the militia, many of whom operate on horseback across the region, which
is the size of France.
He denied there was any campaign of genocide or ethnic cleansing in Darfur. He
said the Janjaweed militias, as well as the two groups fighting the government
in the areas, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation
Army, were made up of tribes considered African and Arab.
He said people on both sides of the conflict spoke the same language and were
all Muslims.
Rahim suggested that the US and Europe lift an arms embargo against Sudan and
provide resources for Sudanese forces to take on the militias.
Since they knew the area, he said, they were in a far better position than
foreign forces to take on the rebels.
Rahim said that allegations of a campaign of genocide and rape in the region
had taken root after locals had been told what to say by outsiders in the
region.
He said the evidence of this was that women who alleged they had been raped
were describing their experiences with Arabic words that they would not
normally use.
He denied the government supported these militias and said it was impossible to
bring them under control because of the vastness of the Darfur region. Sudan,
he said, was working with its neighbours, the Central African Republic, Chad
and Libya, to bring stability to the region.
Rahim said his government had deployed nearly 6000 policemen in Darfur to try
to stop the attacks.
Earlier this week the Democratic Alliance called on SA to condemn atrocities in
Sudan and exert pressure on Khartoum.

   

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