Sudan President Appoints Janjawid Leader as Special Adviser

 January 17, 2008
The Media Line 
Original Source: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=20276#
	

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has appointed a suspected Janjawid leader as a special adviser to the ministry of federal government, the Sudanese daily Sudan Tribune reported. 
 
Mousa Hilal, 43, is leader of the Mahamid, an Arab clan in Darfur. Hilal was named by numerous eyewitnesses in Darfur as leading a terror campaign against African tribes in the region in the past few years, the Sudan Tribune wrote.  
 
Hilal was questioned in 2005 by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and admitted to recruiting militias on behalf of Sudan's central government. The Arab leader was cited in an Internmational Criminal Court report in February 2007 for delivering a racist speech in July 2003. He was not named a war crime suspect, however. 
 
The United Nations Security Council imposed travel and financial sanctions on Hilal in April 2006. United States President George W. Bush issued an executive order enforcing similar sanctions on him. 
 
The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when an ethnic minority of African tribes rose up against the Arab-dominated government in the capital Khartoum. The federal government was later accused of enlisting the Janjawid, an Arab militia in Darfur, to help crush the rebellion. Over 200,000 people have died in the conflict and more than 2.5 millions forced out of their homes. 
 
A few weeks ago, the U.N. began sending troops to Darfur, to join African Union soldeirs already operating in the war-torn region. The U.N. wants to dispatch 26,000 troops to Darfur, but so far most member states have dragged their feet and not contributed to the joint force.