By Alaa Shahine EL-GENEINA, Sudan, April 25 (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in West Darfur told the United Nations on Wednesday that Arab militias were killing and pillaging in the region without arrests by the Sudanese authorities. Major Harry Soko, a Rwandan officer who briefed the head of the U.N. refugee agency, said that the presence of Sudanese rebel groups in his area had also led to conflict and hundreds of deaths in the past several months. "Arab militias believed to be employed by the (Sudanese government) ... roam freely in our area of responsibility, threatening and killing anybody against the interests of the government," he told Antonio Guterres, the visiting U.N. High Commissioner for Refugeees. An African Union police commander, who did not give his name, told the same briefing that the militias committed crimes from banditry to rape and Sudanese police did not arrest them. The government denies any connection with the militias, known locally as Janjaweed and blamed for many of the attacks on villages inhabited by non-Arab farming communities. It says they are outlaws and that it takes action against them when it can. Soko said one area where the rebel presence has added to the violence in recent months was around Sirba, about 45 km (30 miles) north of El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. "(This has) resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives of Sudanese government personnel, rebels and civilians," he said. "These areas are no-go areas to AU personnel due to threats by the NRF (the rebel National Redemption Front)," he said. The NRF is one of the Darfur rebel groups which have refused to sign the peace agreement signed in the Nigerian capital Abuja last year by the government and the main rebel group. Soko listed a number of obstacles facing the AU troops, including the lack of good roads, attack helicopters, night-vision devices and adequate funding. The 5,000 African troops have not been able to bring law and order in Darfur but the Sudanese government has rejected attempts to bring in a large force under U.N. auspices.
