UNITED NATIONS — A top Sudanese tribal leader accused of committing war crimes in his country's western Darfur area said the government had backed and directed his activities, contradicting officials' claims that they had no links to local militia violence in the region.
In a four-hour videotaped interview with Human Rights Watch made public Wednesday, militia leader Musa Hilal said his group of fighters didn't act alone but followed orders from Sudan's government and military. "All of the people in the field are led by top army commanders," he told investigators with the rights group in the fall. "These people get their orders from the western command center and from Khartoum," the capital.
He denied having a leadership role in the military or committing atrocities. "I mobilize people, I coordinate with recruiters. I've been with the PDF [official militia] commanders, but I was never a commander of troops in a war zone," he said.
Sudan's U.N. ambassador did not return messages Wednesday seeking comment. Since 2003, tens of thousands of people have died in the militias' systematic conquest of land in Darfur, and nearly 2 million people have been displaced.
Many in Darfur believe Hilal is the main militia leader in the region, and his name topped a list of most-wanted militia chiefs that U.S. officials presented to Khartoum last year.
"We now see that the two parties responsible for crimes against humanity in Darfur are pointing the finger at each other," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Africa division. "Musa Hilal is a dangerous man for the Sudanese government. His testimony could be very interesting to the International Criminal Court."
The Security Council has struggled with how to halt the fighting and punish those responsible for the violence that has ravaged Sudan's western region since rebels took up arms against the government in 2003.
Several hundred African Union troops have been sent into the area to monitor a faltering cease-fire, but reports of attacks by both rebels and government-backed forces continue. The Security Council has so far failed to spur Khartoum to disarm or prosecute the militias.
The United States is circulating a draft Security Council resolution that calls for sanctions against militia and government leaders and says those accused of war crimes should be tried in an international court.
