Darfur militia leader says France not target

There is no link between France's political positions regarding Sudan and the kidnappings of French nationals in Darfur, Janjaweed militia leader Musa Hilal told AFP in an interview.

Paris has not been in Sudan's good graces, analysts say, due to its support of an International International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, its hosting of Darfur rebel chief Abdelwahid Nur and its military presence in neighbouring Chad.

Since the ICC issued its warrant in March against Beshir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, 10 foreigners -- including three French nationals -- have been kidnapped in the war-torn western region.

Some of the aid workers targeted have been employed by French-based non-governmental organisations.

Musa Hilal, an influential chief of the Mahamid branch of the Arab Rezeiqat tribe, said French nationals were not being especially singled out.

"I don't think there are links between the positions of France (regarding Sudan) and the kidnappings," said Hilal, who is considered by the United States a leader of the Janjaweed militia recruited by Khartoum to quell the rebellion in Darfur in 2003-2004.

He sits at the head of a US list of people suspected of war crimes in Darfur. He is the subject of a UN Security Council travel ban, but is not wanted by the ICC.

Hilal, who is also chief advisor of the Ministry of Federal Affairs in Sudan, believes there are three reasons for the kidnappings.

"Firstly, the (humanitarian) organisations don't distribute aid in a fair manner... and they don't hire people from different tribes in a fair manner," Hilal said.

"The second reason is political," he said, refusing to elaborate.

"Thirdly (the kidnappings) are sending messages to the NGOs, to the Sudanese government, to the African Union, to the United Nations and to the process in Doha," where rebels held talks with Khartoum, he said.

Members of the Arab tribes of north Darfur are behind the kidnappings, several analysts have said.

France appeared be a target after five employees of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders- MSF), one of them a French national, were abducted in March.

The following month two aid workers with Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI), including a Frenchwoman, were also kidnapped.

In the latest abduction, a French staffer with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Gauthier Lefevre, was captured on Thursday by armed men near the border with Chad.

Hilal mediated with the kidnappers of two aid workers from the Irish GOAL group who were freed last week after 107 days in captivity.

He said the kidnappers had threatened to take their GOAL hostages and flee to neighbouring Chad.

But the Sudanese authorities didn't want the hostages to be freed in Chad, handing Ndjamena a political victory, he said.

"If Chad had freed the hostages, it would have been considered a failure on the part of the Sudanese government."

Relations between the two countries have been tense in recent years.

Chad has accused Sudan of supporting rebels seeking to oust the government, while Khartoum has charged Ndjamena with backing ethnic minority rebels in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.

The government says 10,000 people have been killed.