Sudan denies directing Janjaweed

Sudan's government has rejected new allegations that it is giving direct support and orders to the Janjaweed Arab militia in the Darfur region.

A Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman told the BBC his government was instead working hard to try to disarm them.

Earlier, a UK asylum seeker known as Ali, who said he was in the Janjaweed, told the BBC he saw ministers giving orders at their training camps.

Ali said he took part in village raids after bombings by Sudan's air force.

He said the majority of casualties were civilians and that he had witnessed Janjaweed fighters raping women.

Khartoum has always denied any links to the Janjaweed, who have been accused of war crimes against civilians in Darfur.

More than two million people have fled their homes during the three-year conflict and more than 200,000 are estimated to have died.

Asylum

Sudanese government spokesman Ali al-Sadek told the BBC's Arabic Service that he believed the former Janjaweed fighter made his allegations on the BBC television programme Newsnight because he is claiming political asylum in the UK.

"I think this is a pretext that weakens everything he alleged," Mr Sadek said.

The spokesman also said the interior minister mentioned by Ali was not Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hussein - although Mr Hussein held the post until 2005.

Mr Al-Sadek reiterated the Sudanese government's denial of aiding any militias in Darfur, adding that the government was cooperating with the United Nations.

"We are seeking to seize the weapons of this bandit militia. We are exerting efforts alongside the UN and many other organisations in order to establish security and peace."

"Ali"

The former fighter, Ali, said the men who had trained them were wearing the uniforms of the Sudanese military, adding that Mr Hussein was a "regular visitor".

"The Janjaweed don't make decisions. The orders always come from the government," he said.

"They gave us orders, and they say that after we are trained they will give us guns and ammunition."

Hilary Benn, a British government minister who visited Darfur on Monday, said the man's evidence was "clearly very serious".

Mr Benn urged him to speak to investigators from the International Criminal Court.

Smoking gun?

Meanwhile the Aegis Trust, which campaigns against genocide, has revealed details of a letter it believes is genuine and it says provides evidence of a systematic campaign to drive Africans from Darfur.

The US State Department is reported to have considerable doubts about its authenticity.

The copy of the letter, which has been seen by the BBC, is dated 16 August 2004 and is translated from Arabic.

Aegis Trust say they obtained it from a US Marines captain serving as an adviser to the African Union mission in Darfur.

It is signed by a Janjaweed commander and describes orders from Sudan's president to "change the demography of Darfur".

"We confirm that directives have been issued - to change the demography of Darfur and make it void of tribes of African origin - to kill, burn all farms, confiscate the belongings of tribes of African origin, forcibly displace them from Darfur, and kill their intellectuals and the youth, because they can join the fight with the rebels," the letter says.

Student organizes drive to save Darfur

By Cate Biggs, Associate News Editor, cbiggs@smu.edu

August 31, 2006

The Darfur genocide has been a horrifying reality in Sudan that has called SMU student, Denver Nicks, to action. Nicks has created a committee through Students For A Better Society that will attempt to raise awareness about the Darfur situation and help stop the genocide.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 after the Sudanese government used armed militias to begin a scorched earth campaign, as well as militia attacks that have led to countless human rights violations.

The situation is only worsening thanks to state-sponsored violence, lack of humanitarian aid, famine, starvation, disease and a program of systematic rape of African women.

With more than 3.5 million people starving, 2.5 million displaced due to the extreme violence, and more than 400.000 dead, one SMU student has decided to take a stand.

Nicks first became involved with the Darfur genocide when a friend from another university began a campaign and sparked Nicks’ interest. His involvement began by simply wearing his “Save Darfur” t-shirts and bracelet, but Nicks wanted to take a more hands-on approach. The grim situation made him want to take the campaign to the SMU student body to raise more awareness for the cause.

This summer Nicks attended a conference in Washington D.C. on student activism in Darfur, which furthered his drive to become more closely involved with the campaign to end the genocide.

Nicks will conduct a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 5 p.m. in Hughes-Trigg Portico E to discuss the plans for the anti-genocide committee. His main objective is to raise campus awareness about the genocide in Darfur through the sale of t-shirts and fundraising. The money from fundraising will go either to the cause of raising more awareness about Darfur, or to the International Rescue Committee Fund to assist Darfur directly.

Another huge goal of the committee will be to pressure political leaders to take a stand and assist with genocide relief.

“In the state of Texas the political leaders have very low scores when it comes to assisting with the Darfur genocide. We hope to pressure them to do more to help,” stated Nicks.

All of the Texas state representatives and senators have a grade of C or below on their assistance with the Darfur genocide. Sen. John Cornyn ranks the lowest with a grade of F, while the majority of representatives have a scored a D. (www.darfurscore.org/grades/texas).

Nicks encourages anyone who is appalled by genocide and wishes to assist with the effort to attend the meeting.

“I am so excited about the campaign and anyone who is not down with genocide is more than welcome to join,” Nicks stated.

Fore more information please contact Denver Nicks at dnicks@smu.edu