Sudan's Bashir Begins Tour of Darfur

Associated Press
Sunday, July 22, 2007; A14

KHARTOUM, Sudan, July 21 -- Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, implicated by many governments and human rights organizations in Darfur's violence, visited the troubled region Saturday for the first time since the start of the four-year conflict there.

Bashir is scheduled to visit Darfur's three provincial capitals in as many days.

As many as 450,000 people in Darfur have died from violence and disease and 2.5 million have been displaced in the conflict, which began in 2003 when rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against Bashir's Arab-dominated government.

The government is accused of responding with indiscriminate killings and by unleashing the Janjaweed militias -- blamed for the worst atrocities in Darfur. The United States has condemned the killings as genocide, a charge the government denies.

Under heavy pressure from the United Nations, Bashir recently agreed to allow the deployment of 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur to support 7,000 poorly equipped and underfunded African Union troops already there. He has agreed in principle to an even larger force, but the deal has not been finalized.

After arriving in South Darfur's provincial capital of Nyala, 600 miles southwest of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, Bashir urged all citizens to unify against tribalism and sedition.

"We want you to unite your ranks and do not allow any intruders or agents to split you again," he said on state-run radio.

Accompanied by his ministers, Bashir is also scheduled to visit El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, where a cabinet meeting will be held Sunday. On Monday, he is to fly to El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, before returning to Khartoum the same day.

In Nyala, Bashir criticized those trying to divide the citizens of Darfur as Arabs and Africans.

"This is but a plot that seeks to divide people as Arabs and blacks," he said. "Those who make such distinction seek sedition and plotting. Do not listen to them."

Bashir also urged "those still in the bushes," an apparent reference to rebel fighters, to return home and join the peace process. He promised they would be compensated for losses incurred during the conflict.

Just two weeks ago, the U.S. envoy to Sudan, Andrew S. Natsios, accused Bashir's government of resuming bombing of civilians in Darfur and warned of a "disturbing" trend of Arab groups resettling in the area. His comments in Khartoum followed what he said was a resumption of attacks in Darfur after a lull of several months.