SUDAN: The Sudanese government has directed recruitment, arming and support of militia accused of murder, rape and uprooting one million African villagers in Darfur, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
Mr Kenneth Roth, the director of the New York-based rights group, showed reporters translations of four documents he had obtained, signed by government authorities. One from Khartoum's deputy interior minister, Mr Ahmad Harun, asks for the recruitment of "knights", a reference to militia.
Others are from provincial and local authorities in February and March and request arms for militia fighters and ask government security units to overlook "misdeeds" of a key Janjaweed militia leader, Musa Hilal, among others.
"We can no longer trust Khartoum to police itself when Khartoum is part of a large problem," Mr Roth told a news conference.
After years of conflict between Arab nomads and black African farmers, rebels took up arms. The Janjaweed went on the rampage, driving black Africans into barren camps, conducting widespread rape and killing an estimated 30,000 people.
Mr Roth said: "The way the Sudanese government had chosen to try to suppress the rebellion is by attacking any member of the two ethnic groups that have given rise to the scorched earth policy."
One document Mr Roth said he obtained from a Sudanese informant calls for "resettlement operations of nomads in places from which the outlaws (rebels) withdrew".
He said: "This and recent government statements that displaced persons will be settled in 18 settlements rather than in their original villages, raises concern that the ethnic cleansing that has occurred will be consolidated."
Sudan denies the charges and two weeks ago promised UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan to disarm militias, begin political talks with rebels and provide access for aid agencies.
Mr Roth called for the UN Security Council to pressure the government into accepting a force, similar to the one Australia sent to East Timor in 1999, to stop atrocities.
But the United States, backed by Europeans, is having enough difficulties getting a mild resolution through the council, at least until Mr Annan reports later this week. An initial UN report on Saturday said that while humanitarian access had improved, air raids and attacks by the Janjaweed and government-aligned militias were making displaced people too afraid to return to their villages.
A US-drafted resolution would put a travel and arms ban on the Janjaweed, and threatens to extend the bans to Khartoum.
Britain and Germany want an immediate arms embargo on Sudan if the government does not live up to its obligations.