Darfur defector confesses
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Nick Meo in London
July 14, 2008
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A HIGH-RANKING commander who armed and led Janjaweed militiamen in attacks on hundreds of villages in Darfur has come forward to say he did so at the behest of the Sudanese Government.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are today expected to take a significant step towards putting Sudan's leaders on trial by presenting evidence against the President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
As the lawyers pursue a case against the country's rulers in Khartoum, some of the most damning evidence yet that the killing was directed by the Government has been provided by Arbab Idries, who was a commander between 2003 and 2007.
An estimated 300,000 black Africans have died in ethnic massacres in Darfur at the hands of Arabic-speaking militias, in what the US has described as genocide. A further 2.5 million refugees have been driven from their homes.
In an interview to be aired on British television tonight, Mr Idries described how he was instructed by a senior government figure to recruit Islamic Arabic speakers from the north of Sudan, then personally led 5000 horsemen in a murderous campaign against black southerners who did not share their religion.
He admitted troops under his command committed rapes and killed old people and children. "We were attacking villages where there were only the blacks," Mr Idries said. "These people were civilians. They had no weapons."
The Khartoum Government has always argued that the massacres were the result of tribal disputes in a remote area in which it had no hand. But the detailed account Mr Idries can provide about the campaign of slaughter could prove crucial as a case is built against Sudan's rulers. After falling out with the regime he fled abroad and is now in hiding and trying to strike a deal with international prosecutors.
He said he had become repelled by the slaughter but it is more likely he feared falling victim to political manoeuvrings within the regime. Reports from Khartoum suggest that senior figures in the regime are increasingly fearful that international pressure to pursue war crime suspects will soon force them to offer up scapegoats.
As the expected announcement by the court approaches, Sudan's Government has become increasingly angry. Its spokesman at the UN said any charges brought against the President would be "a criminal move". Westerners in Khartoum are taking extra security precautions as fears of revenge attacks grow.
Mr Idries's account is both chilling and convincing in its detailed description of a campaign by ferocious horsemen who despised the Darfuris as racial inferiors. It also outlines a clearly thought-out campaign of ethnic cleansing.
He said: "When we entered a village we were to steal and loot whatever we could. As for the water wells, we put sand in and blocked them. We cut down trees and burnt villages. We wanted to force the population out of their areas and give them no chance to live there again."
Telegraph, London
