- Bashir arrest warrant seen deterring Darfur attacks
- Nur says expulsion of aid groups is disaster for Darfur
- Nur defends Israel visit
By Estelle Shirbon
PARIS, March 6 (Reuters) - The arrest warrant issued against the president of Sudan offers new hope to the people of Darfur because it will dissuade attacks, even though the immediate consequences are dire, a Darfur rebel leader said on Friday.
The International Criminal Court issued the warrant on Wednesday for Omar Hassan al-Bashir to face charges of war crimes in Darfur, and Khartoum responded by expelling 13 foreign humanitarian organisations from Sudan.
Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, founder of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said the departure of the aid workers was a disaster for the people of Darfur. But if there had been no warrant, attacks by government troops and proxy militias would be an even graver danger.
"Darfur is in a Catch 22 situation," the Paris-based rebel leader, who says fighters loyal to him control some parts of Darfur, told reporters.
"Either you let Bashir go so he can kill even more people with his Janjaweed militias and the aid workers will bring relief to people who are dead ... or you indict him," Nur said.
He argued that the warrant would send a signal to army commanders and fighters from the Janjaweed, government-backed militias behind some of the worst atrocities in Darfur.
Nur's SLA and another rebel group took up arms in 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the development of Darfur.
Sudan used government war planes as well as proxy militias on the ground to crush the rebellion. It denies accusations from Washington that genocide occurred during the counter-insurgency.
International experts say the conflict in Darfur has killed 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.
PEACEMAKERS
Nur, who enjoys widespread support among residents of some of Darfur's largest refugee camps, called on the international community to replace ineffective peacekeepers with a stronger force and give them a powerful mandate.
"In Darfur there is no peace to be kept. My appeal is that we don't need peacekeepers, we need peacemakers. We need an international force to stop the genocide now," he said.
The UNAMID peacekeeping force, an operation run jointly by the African Union and the United Nations, has 11,000 men in Darfur, a region the size of France. It is well short of its promised 26,000 personnel and has been unable to secure Darfur.
Nur reiterated his position that he would not take part in any peace talks until there was security in Darfur.
Nur took part in lengthy talks with two other rebel factions and with the Sudanese government in Nigeria in 2005-06. One of the other rebel groups signed an accord with Khartoum, but he refused to sign. The accord turned out to be a complete failure.
Now, he said, Nur wanted total "conflict suspension" before he would return to the table.
He was asked at his news conference why he had paid a visit to Israel. Critics say this was a propaganda gift to Khartoum, which has often accused Darfur rebels of being part of a "Zionist conspiracy".
Nur said he went to Israel for two main reasons: to show support to 8,000 Sudanese people he said were living there, and to lead by example. Sudan was a victim of racial and religious hatred, he said, and he wanted to overcome such sentiments. (Editing by Giles Elgood)