A Darfur town empties as the janjaweed return

The janjaweed – many of whom are former criminals released from prison – have been accused by local civilians and human rights monitors of hideous abuses, including gang rape, throwing babies in boiling water, and burning civilians alive. This week, the deputy sultan of Tine said he was attacked in his home, threatened with death, and had cash and guns stolen by drunken men wearing government uniforms.

"I have been here for three years," he says through a translator. "The [government of Sudan] and the police, they are not doing this. This is not the real Sudanese army."

Now, he says, he is in fear of his life, but balks at confirming the janjaweed presence under the glare of the government minder who has insisted on being present at all interviews.

Even the Sudanese soldiers, who have been stationed here for nearly two years, find the janjaweed embarrassing. "These guys are causing chaos in this area," complains one officer to the minder, before realizing that there is an Arabic-speaking journalist present.

The 200 soldiers and observers at the African Union camp here say there is little they can do to stop attacks on the people of Tine should they return to the town. Outnumbered by government troops by 200 to 1 and lacking a mandate to intervene, there are few civilians left to seek their protection. At night, the headlights of rebel convoys across the border shine through the razor wire like cats' eyes and the distant boom of government bombers wakes the soldiers in the AU camp from a sweaty slumber.

"The AU has no teeth. We cannot bite," says a frustrated Lt. Col. Thomas Chaona, the commander in charge of the camp on the Sudanese side of the border.

Underresourced and undermanned, even senior AU commanders are calling for the intervention of the UN. In one recent incident, an officer who went to investigate a massacre got lost after being given the wrong coordinates. The people who had gathered to speak to him, he says, were attacked by janjaweed, and many were killed.

"We were designed to monitor a cease-fire, not be a peacekeeping mission," says the AU officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We have never had the resources to do this job."

But there is no one left in Tine to protect now. "This is a ghost town. All the people are dead or have run away," says Virginia Mukuka sadly. A Zambian who is one of 30 civilian police attached to the AU force in Tine, she says she has only dealt with one complaint in four months.

"We came to help our brothers and sisters," she says. "But they are gone."

Meanwhile, the various forces fight. These days, squabbles over power and disputes over peace deals have spawned so many factions that the rebels themselves cannot name them all, although many have a loose alliance under the National Redemption Front (NRF).

This is the group that most concerns the government. The NRF has beat the government in two battles, taking over 100 prisoners and capturing vital vehicles and weapons.

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