Janjaweed a fabrication says Sudanese President al-Bashir

From the BBC Monitoring Service - via Coalition for Darfur with thanks - excerpt from report by Sudanese independent Al-Mashahir, January 19, 2006:

Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir has denied the existence of the so-called Janjawid militias in the war-torn Darfur region and said this was a fabrication by the media. He said the armed groups obtained their weapons from outside Sudan and most conflicts in Darfur were over natural resources such as water and pastures.

In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau, Al-Bashir accused extremist Christian circles in the US Congress and the Zionist lobby of influencing the US Congress against Sudan.

Al-Bashir asked foreign powers not to interfere in the Darfur conflict pointing out that there was no genocide there.

See Sudan's Janjaweed largely controlled West Darfur but were not present at Darfur peace talks - Why not?