Tribal leaders preach peace in war-torn Darfur

NUMU, Sudan - An Arab tribal chief accused by the United States of being a leader of a brutal militia is now touring Darfur with a message of peace and reconciliation. 

Musa Hilal and other tribal leaders in the western Sudanese region, including some from non-Arab groups, are taking part in a government-sponsored initiative to persuade villagers displaced by two years of fighting return home.  

They offer people in some of the worst affected areas money as well as beefed-up security to encourage them to go back to their homes in the vast and arid region they fled in fear.  

"No matter what it costs, no matter what the price, we have to restore normality in Darfur and reunite Darfuris," he told people in the northern non-Arab village of Numu on Sunday.  

Hilal said a succession of governments in Khartoum had failed to develop Darfur, an impoverished region long suffering from conflict between mostly Arab nomadic tribes and non-Arab farmers over scarce resources.  

"We have to put our home in order from within," said Hilal, 44, wearing a white turban and a long white gown. 

However, the initiative, agreed in Khartoum last month, has failed to win support from the main guerrilla groups. 

The leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Ahmed Nour, said those from his non-Arab Fur tribe, Darfur's largest, who had signed the accord did not represent his people.  

Darfur rebels launched an uprising in 2003 against what they say is government discrimination in favour of Arab tribes. 

The United Nations says Khartoum responded by arming Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, who now stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and burning non-Arab villages.  

Tens of thousands have been killed in the violence and more than two million have been displaced, creating what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.  

- REUTERS