Intelligence Report links Janjaweed to al Qaeda

By Douglas Farah

A recent international intelligence document says there are credible reports that a cadre of about 15 al Qaeda operatives in Sudan are providing training to troops under the control of Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal.

This is striking given the recent mentions of the janjaweed in Osama bin Laden's most recent public pronouncements, where the Arabs fighters in Sudan are congratulated along with the Islamists in Somalia.

Sudanese officials, who have done nothing so far to halt the Darfur slaughter by the janjaweed, have seized on the report and others like it insist the government's hands are tied in controlling the murderous raiders because the janjaweed are tied to al Qaeda, not the government.

Such logic may be a useful way to try to deflect the accusations of government participation in the genocide there, when faced with strong evidence of al Qaeda support. But the government, which hosted bin Laden and continues to maintain contact with al Qaeda groups, cannot and should not be allowed to get away with such egregious support for mass murder.

The confidential report says the trainers are foreigners who have arrived in Sudan from Kenya, Mali, Libya, Somalia and southern Egypt, and possibly Yemen. There are indications the cadre came out of Afghanistan and Iraq to join the janjaweed for training and combat. My full blog is here.

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