Who better to confirm the hideous goings-on in Darfur than a former commander from the Sudanese army? Dateline got hold of this exclusive interview from Phillip Cox.

And who better to confirm the hideous goings-on in Darfur than a former commander from the Sudanese army. Dateline got hold of this exclusive interview from Phillip Cox.

REPORTER: Phillip Cox

This man says he was a Sudanese commander who supplied, financed and led the Janjaweed militias who raped and murdered with impunity across Darfur. After months of negotiation he agreed to speak to me about his role in committing war crimes and, according to him, the Sudanese Government's role in funding and planning the Darfur conflict. He had brought with him military identification, photographs of him in the field and official documents as proof to his claim. He began by telling me about a secret meeting in 2003 he had with one of the most senior members of the Sudanese Government.

ARBAB IDRIES, FORMER SUDANESE COMMANDER: So we meet, and he said to us, "Just you bring your people, Arab people, and I give you the weapons, the money, the horses, the camel, the uniforms, everything."

REPORTER: So what do you believe he wanted you to do with these weapons?

ARBAB IDRIES: To attack, to attack the people there - civilians, the rebels. He said to us exactly, "We need only land. We don't need the people there. We need only land."

REPORTER: What do you think was the intention behind the government telling you to do this?

ARBAB IDRIES, (Translation): It is racist and a tribal issue. We were attacking villages where there were only the blacks, the niggers. These people were civilians. They had no weapons.

REPORTER: Did men under your command rape women in Darfur?

ARBAB IDRIES, (Translation): Yes, yes. About five cases of rape. I tried to stop them but they refused. They carried on raping. They said they were allowed.

REPORTER: Do you believe the Sudanese Government wanted rape to be used by militia and soldiers in Darfur?

ARBAB IDRIES, (Translation): Yes, yes, yes. We reported cases of rapes and asked to bring those individuals to justice but the government took no action.

The commander claimed he had led thousands of Janjaweed men on horseback in random attacks on black African civilians.

ARBAB IDRIES, (Translation): Firstly, our intention was that when we entered a village we were to steal and loot whatever we could. As for the water wells, we put sand in them and blocked them. We cut down trees, we burned villages. We wanted to force the population out of their areas and to give them no chance to live there again.

REPORTER: And were these instructions that came from Khartoum?

ARBAB IDRIES: It came from Khartoum because there is a promise to the Janjaweed. Beside the money they give them, he must take everything in the village.

I asked the commander about a particular village. For the last three years I'd worked closely with the survivors from this village and had been there only days after the attack.

ARBAB IDRIES: I see very bad things there. All the village is damaged. No rebels, only civilians, and the village is attacked by the militia of the Janjaweed. They damage the village, fire the village, raped the women.

I was there days after the attack and I saw many round pits outside the village. What was in those pits?

ARBAB IDRIES, (Translation): The population living in these areas were wiped out in mass murder. They had been buried in mass graves. One grave contained about 20 people.

The murder and killing of women, children and men in their hundreds of thousands across Darfur - why did you do it?

ARBAB IDRIES, (Translation): At that time of my life I was satisfied and OK with what I was doing but all the time I was seeing and committing horrific crimes and killing.

I then asked the commander about where the weapons came from that he and the Janjaweed militias used. His claim was hard to substantiate.

ARBAB IDRIES: I say to you there are some weapons with "Made in China".

REPORTER: Do believe China is still supporting with weapons?

ARBAB IDRIES: Yes, it is still supporting because China is still in the Sudan in the fields of oil.

My interview with the commander lasted many hours. He claimed he had personally dealt with millions of dollars sent by Khartoum to fund the war and that he'd organised the recruiting thousands of young Arab men to fight as Janjaweed - all claims that are hard to substantiate.




Director
PHIL COX

Producer
GIOVANNA STOPPONI