Haftar employing Sudanese rebel mercenaries is 'destroying Darfur and Libya'

A fresh outbreaking of fighting in both Sudan and Libya can be blamed on the east Libyan strongman rebel, General Khalifa Haftar, a Sudanese minister claimed on Sunday.

Haftar’s decision to employ Janjaweed militants in his army to fight Islamists in the country’s east, has led him to also support their armed cause in the south of Sudan.

"Haftar is involving Sudanese Darfur rebel groups and mercenaries in conflicts in southern Libya and thus is continuing the same policy that was used by Muammar Gaddafi," said Sudan’s media minister, Ahmed Bilal Othman.

Haftar allegedly rewards those who fight for him by providing a secure base from which to launch their attacks in the Darfur region, reports suggest.

Khartoum alleges the Janjaweed fighters are located 50km west of the city of Derna and are currently fighting the Mujahedeen Shura Council as mercenaries.

The Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, recently claimed that his forces had intercepted a convoy of tanks and fighters that had travelled from Libya to Darfur.

There has been a civil war between the Sudanese government and a number of rebel groups in Darfur that has continued since 2003.

Fighting has flared up in the region, despite an African Union-sponsored ceasefire agreement, with Janjaweed fighters battling against the Sudanese army.