In Darfur, some Arabs now fight alongside rebels
Some Arabs fighters are growing so disenchanted with unfulfilled promises from Sudan's government that they're switching sides in the conflict.
from the May 22, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Experts: Talks must Darfur's Arabs
Sally Chin, one of the report authors, says any solution to Darfur's multilayered conflict would have to take account of their interests.
"Many Arab tribes have always refused to support the NCP policies or take part in the janjaweed militias. For a comprehensive peace in Darfur it is critical that they are also somehow represented in the next round of talks."
Janjaweed commanders have become frequent visitors to rebel villages in the heart of the Jebel Mara mountains, accessible only by donkey.
Mahdi used to head a unit of militias who kept control of the main road into the hills from Nyala, the state capital of South Darfur.
He reels off a list of eight villages that his fighters pillaged.
"We would wait for the government to bomb an area, then we would go in," he says, a government issue AK-47 at his side. "Then our job was to go and loot and burn everything we could."
At first, trunks of cash and ammunition would be distributed by government soldiers before an attack.
But then the money ran out. Then their food.
How Mahdi joined the rebels
Disenchanted with the government and rumors that other Arab tribes were being treated better, he led his men to an SLA checkpoint waving a white flag.
They were debriefed and questioned for days, before each being handed a copy of the Koran and welcomed into the SLA.
"It made us feel bad that we had believed the government's lies. We were told that the SLA wanted to kill us and take our animals, that's why we did what we used to do," he says now.
For the past eight months his men have defended the southern slopes of Jebel Mara, making it a buffer against government forces.
He now takes orders from Gen. Elsadig Elzein Rokero, one of the SLA's senior commanders.
General Rokero says he is prepared to welcome anyone into the SLA if they are willing to sign up to the principle of ending Darfur's marginalization.
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