Militias ravage Darfur in gangs of hundreds

A total breakdown of law and order is reported in Darfur, western Sudan, as militias roam the region in gangs of hundreds, attacking one village after another. The entire Jabal Si area, previously home to about 70,000 people living in over 119 villages, had been cleared of civilians, the UN said following an assessment. Many of the displaced, over 90 percent of whom are women and children, have fled to Kabkabiyah town in Northern Darfur. All along the road between Tawilah and Kabkabiyah, aid workers had observed "nothing but burned and abandoned villages" and a large number of abandoned donkeys roaming around water points, it said. Some civilians, living in a state of constant terror, had resorted to paying the Janjawid militias not to attack them. In Birkat Saira, a village about 75 km from Kabkabiyah, residents have paid the militias about US $7,000 since August, according to the deputy community leader there, who keeps the accounts. Two residents said they had individually paid $326 and $96 to the Janjawid. Others are paying the Janjawid to allow them to farm their own land, or to return to their home villages. UN staff observed over 100 armed Janjawid on camels and horses outside Kabkabiyah town. In Nyala, Southern Darfur, several hundred government-aligned militiamen were reportedly recruited by the army last week, an eyewitness told IRIN. Two uniformed men, who described themselves as members of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF) - paramilitary units used by the Sudanese government - told the eyewitness that they were new recruits waiting to be given arms. They, along with scores of others, camped in the town close to a military base for three or four days last week and then left. The distinction between the army, PDF and Janjawid militias, all accused of committing atrocities against civilians, is at times blurred as the different groups often wear army uniforms, according to observers. The Sudanese government has admitted arming militias in the past, as a means of fighting the region's two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement. In a separate development, food hand-outs being given by aid workers to the region's 700,000 displaced are also being looted. The World Food Programme (WFP) had decided to make more frequent distributions of smaller amounts of food as a means of protecting displaced people from attacks, Laura Melo, the WFP spokeswoman, told IRIN on Monday. "Hopefully, with less food in the house, people will be less attractive to looting," she said. UN workers have been asked not to give aid to some villages, as it would turn them into targets for attacks.