SUDAN:It has emerged that the Khartoum government has appointed a notorious Janjaweed commander as a special adviser, writes Rob Crilly.
Musa Hilal has been named by numerous eyewitnesses in Darfur as co-ordinating terror campaigns against tribes that back the region's rebel movements.
Meanwhile, security in Sudan's troubled Darfur region continues to deteriorate despite the arrival of a long-awaited peacekeeping force, according to human rights campaigners.
In a report published today, Amnesty International says the government of Sudan is obstructing the deployment of joint United Nations and African Union peacekeepers, leaving displaced people in a "protection vacuum".
It also warns that young men, who have been living in camps for the past five years, are taking up weapons.
For now, hopes for peace rest with the hybrid UN-AU Unamid force, which began operating in Darfur three weeks ago.
However, the government has refused to allow non-African troops to join the mission. Other demands have hampered operations of the peacekeepers, who will eventually reach a total strength of 26,000. Only 9,000 are currently in place.
"The security situation in and outside of the camps continues to deteriorate, as hopes of a political resolution to the Darfur conflict recede and hostilities between the government and armed groups continue to escalate," said Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty International's Africa programme."The welfare of displaced people continues to be ignored while armed groups and the government bicker and impede the complete deployment of Unamid."
International experts estimate that more than 200,000 people have died in Darfur and two-thirds of the population now depend on the world's largest humanitarian operation for survival.
The fighting started in 2003 when rebels took up arms accusing the government of neglecting the western region. Khartoum mobilised its allies in Arab tribes, unleashing the Janjaweed militias in a "scorched earth" campaign.
Since then, a breakdown of law and order caused by intertribal clashes, infighting among rebels and disorderly government forces has created a climate of impunity in Darfur, where the gun rules, Amnesty said.
Its report said handguns could be bought inside aid camps for as little as $25 (€17).
Young men, with few prospects for the future, were increasingly turning to weapons, it said. "There is a lot of anger among them and they don't know how to cope with it," former aid worker Seifeldin Nimer said in the report.
"This younger generation, with little education, no future or work, the only thing they can think of is to take a weapon."
Prospects for peace also suffered a setback with the appointment of Mr Hilal as adviser to the federal affairs minister less than two weeks before an African Union summit where Sudanese president Omar el-Bashir is due to meet UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
Richard Dicker, of Human Rights Watch, condemned the move, saying it was a deliberate challenge to international peace efforts.
"Musa Hilal is the poster child for Janjaweed atrocities in Darfur," he said. "Rewarding him with a special government post is a slap in the face to Darfur victims and to the UN Security Council."
Mr Hilal is already subject to a UN travel ban for his alleged role in the unrest.
It is not the first time that Khartoum has invited international condemnation by promoting officials implicated in atrocities. Last year Ahmed Muhammed Haroun, the Sudanese minister for humanitarian affairs, was put in charge of human rights investigations even though he is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.