Sudanese government accused of war crimes

SUDAN'S government and Arab militias are waging a joint "scorched-earth" campaign of murder, rape and looting of non-Arab ethnic communities in western Sudan, displacing over one million people, Human Rights Watch has said.

"The government's campaign of terror has already forcibly displaced one million innocent civilians, and the numbers are increasing by the day," said Georgette Gagnon, deputy director for the Africa division of the New York-based rights group.

A civil war has raged in the south of the giant northeast African country for two decades, claiming more than two million victims.