Darfur war crimes courts slammed

Splits in Darfur's rebel groups are hampering peace talks

A top UN official has rejected Sudan's claims to be bringing to justice those accused of war crimes in Darfur.

Sudan set up special courts in Darfur to counter attempts to take Sudanese officials accused of atrocities to the world court in The Hague.

But Sima Samar said the cases she had seen either predated the Darfur conflict or did not involve those in positions of responsibility.

Some 2m people have fled their homes in Darfur in what the US says is genocide.

Sudan's government denies that it armed Arab militias to drive black Africans from their homes after two rebel groups took up arms three years ago.

Tougher peace force

On Friday, the African Union (AU) is due to announce whether it wants to hand over its peacekeeping role in Darfur to the United Nations.

There are some 7,000 AU troops in Darfur but the organisation lacks the money to pay for them to continue.

We may be forced to take the decision of pulling out of the African Union Jamal Ibrahim Sudan's foreign ministry

UN chief Koffi Annan has urged Western countries to take over but Sudan vigorously rejects the proposed move and has threatened to leave the pan-African body if it lets the UN take over.

Numerous international reports have blamed senior government figures for the violence that has killed at least 180,000 people.

None of those named have been detained and many still hold ministerial positions.

Ms Samar says that of the 29 people she was told had been tried by the Darfur courts, 15 army officers had been convicted of offences committed before the Darfur crisis started, while none of the other 14 held positions of responsibility.

She also said that arbitrary arrests and torture were continuing.

A special UN inquiry has given the International Criminal Court in The Hague the names of 51 potential suspects.

Last week, a senior British official has said he expects targeted sanctions, such as travel bans, to be imposed soon on about 10 Sudanese officials, accused of human rights abuses in Darfur.

The proposed UN force would be bigger and have a tougher mandate than the existing AU peacekeeping mission.

Over the weekend, Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Ibrahim said: "We may be forced to take the decision of pulling out of the African Union" if the AU decides to hand over the Darfur peace mission to the UN.

Divided rebels

Meanwhile, splits in one of the two rebel groups at peace talks in Nigeria have deepened.

A statement signed by 19 senior Sudan Liberation Army officials denounced SLA leader Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur.

His leadership was already in doubt after the SLA congress elected a new leader last year.

AU officials say these splits are hampering the progress of the peace talks.