Ex-commander links Khartoum to massacres

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 13 (UPI) -- Prosecutors say a former Janjaweed militiaman is readying testimony placing responsibility for mass killings in Darfur on the Sudanese government.

Arbab Idries, described as a key Janjaweed commander between 2003 and 2007, will draw a direct link between Darfuri ethnic massacres and government leaders in Khartoum at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Daily Telegraph reported Sunday.

The court is hearing evidence on whether to bring war crimes charges against Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and is expected to render a decision soon. One strand of evidence will be provided by Idries, the British newspaper said. In a filmed interview with a British journalist, he described how he was told by a senior government official to recruit Islamic Arabic speakers from the north of Sudan, and then led 5,000 Janjaweed horsemen in a campaign against blacks who did not share their religion.

Idries admitted his troops raped women, and killed old people and children, the Telegraph said. International researchers estimate 300,000 black Africans died in the Darfur massacres, which the United States has labeled genocide.