Musa Hilal, the powerful militia chief from Darfur arrested

Sudan’s counter-insurgency forces have arrested a powerful militia chief from Darfur accused by the United Nations of human rights abuses in the war-torn region, the official news agency said Monday.

Musa Hilal, a tribal leader and head of the Border Brigades Forces (BBF) has been arrested by the Sudanese government militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after the murder of one its commander on Sunday.

On Sunday the official news agency, Suna reported the death of RSF director of general supplies Brigadier Abdel-Rahim Gumma in Mustariaha, the hometown of Musa Hilal.

RSF spokesperson told Suna that Gumma had been killed when he went to Mustaharia to investigate an ambush on two vehicles transporting BBF elements arrested within the framework of the forcible arms collection campaign

“A force led by Brigadier Abdel Rahim Gumma moved to the scene of the attack and killed all the outlaws, and captured a number of them. The commander of the mobile force was martyred along with nine martyrs,” he said.

In the first hours of Monday, reports from Mustariaha claimed that Hilal had been killed. However different sources say Hilal was arrested and transported to El-Fasher

Initially, the Sudanese authorities had planned to hold a press conference in Khartoum following his arrival but it has been called off with any explanation.

Musa Hilal, the Mahameed tribal leader and head a tribal militia that took part in the counterinsurgency campaign, refused the merger of his BBF militiamen in the RSF which is now part of the Sudanese army.

Sudanese officials asked him to hand over the weapons of his militiamen but he also refused. He further declined tribal mediation to resolve the issue with the government.

The tribal leader was accused of seeking to get the support of the Libyan general Khalifa Haftar who controls the eastern parts of the north African troubled country. He is also accused of establishing contacts with Darfur armed groups.