Confession of a mass murderer in Darfur

Sunday Telegraph:

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An estimated 300,000 black Africans 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 a filmed interview with a British journalist, 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 5,000 horsemen in a murderous campaign against black southerners who did not share their religion.

He admitted that 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 in the interview. A Muslim, he is himself black as were many of the men he commanded. "These people were civilians. They had no weapons."

For several years, Mr Idries was one of the most feared men in a savage conflict. The sight of him, imposing and brutal in the saddle as he gave orders to Janjaweed horsemen, was the one of the last things seen by hundreds of farmers and their families before they were slaughtered.

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 vital as a case is built against Sudan's rulers.

After falling out with the regime he has fled abroad to a secret East African location and is now in hiding and trying to strike a deal with international prosecutors which could save his skin.

He said he had become repelled by the slaughter that he helped direct but it is more likely that he feared falling victim to political manoeuvrings within the regime. Reports from Khartoum suggest that regime figures are increasingly fearful that international pressure to pursue war crimes suspects will soon force them to offer up scapegoats.

As the expected ICC announcement 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", and Westerners in the capital Khartoum are taking extra security precautions as fears of revenge attacks grow. UN staff based in the city have been ordered to practice evacuation drills.

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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.

"These instructions came from Khartoum."

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Bashir has been at war with everyone near him since coming to power. He has made on on the Christians in the south, the blacks in Darfur and his neighbors in Chad. Sudan initially embraced Osama bin Laden and then ran him off keeping the equipment he imported into Sudan. His response to the threat of a war crimes trial is to suggest that it would interfere with the "peace process." Peace will have a better chance without him around.