Sudan leader orders tribes to disarm militias in bid to end violence

SUDANESE President Omar el-Bashir has ordered tribal leaders in the Darfur region to form security forces to disarm Arab militias blamed for the violence that has killed 30,000 people during an 18-month conflict.

The decision, announced after two days of talks between government officials and Darfur tribal chiefs, comes amid intense international pressure to end the Darfur crisis, which has forced more than one million people from their homes.

The United Nations has described Darfur’s plight as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The European Union, United States and humanitarian groups have accused Mr el-Bashir’s government of backing the Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, with vehicles, helicopters and airplanes - a charge denied by Sudanese officials.

It was not clear how effective the government’s move would be. Despite its previous efforts to restore order, including the deployment of police to the troubled region, UN officials and aid groups say fighting and other violence continues.

Darfur’s troubles stem from long-standing tensions between nomadic Arab tribes and African farm communities over dwindling water and agricultural land in the vast, arid region of western Sudan.

According to a government communique, Mr al-Bashir ordered some 100 tribes in Sudan’s three Darfur states to create their own security forces, including armed camel riders, to disarm the militias.

The Civil Administration of Darfur’s Grand States, which comprises the region’s tribes, was also told to work with 6,000 police sent to disarm the Janjaweed. The communiqué said tribal leaders should “re-establish social bonds” between Darfur's Arab and African communities and “grant financial compensation for those who hand in their weapons”.

On July 30, the UN Security Council gave Sudan 30 days to quell ethnic violence in Darfur or face economic or diplomatic penalties. Sudanese officials said the government needed more time to end the crisis and rejected the threat of UN penalties. But Mr el-Bashir’s government agreed to comply with the resolution and this week signed an agreement with the UN to establish “safe areas” in Darfur within 30 days where civilians will be free of attack. The fighting has left some 2.2 million people in Darfur in urgent need of food and other aid, according to the UN’s World Food Programme.