As thousands die in Darfur, 'genocide general' slips into UK for medical care

A SENIOR member of the Sudanese government accused of supporting ethnic cleansing in Darfur has been allowed into Britain for medical treatment twice in the last six months, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

While Tony Blair and fellow international leaders have condemned the Khartoum government for complicity in looming genocide in Darfur, its intelligence chief General Salah Abdallah has been granted two visas to enter the UK for "urgent" treatment at an exclusive private hospital in London.

Between 1990 and 1996 Abdallah, also known as Al Ghosh, was Osama Bin Laden's main escort when he lived in Sudan. Since 2003, he has organised and carried out the brutal counter-insurgency operation in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of African Sudanese have been killed by marauding Janjaweed militia.

He is one of the Sudanese leaders singled out for condemnation by human rights groups and the United Nations.

But Washington has also courted Abdallah for his inside knowledge of al-Qaeda. American politicians and pressure groups reacted with fury last year after it emerged the CIA had secretly flown him to Washington for high-level meetings on sharing intelligence in the war on terror.

The revelation that Britain is now opening its doors to leaders of a "pariah" state has appalled UK campaigners against genocide, who last night claimed Abdallah "had much blood on his hands".

James Smith, of the Aegis Trust, said: "I have seen people lying wounded as a result of Ghosh's genocidal policies. I am staggered that the British government, with full knowledge of his role, arranged for him to have medical treatment in British hospitals. Perhaps he is offering tit-bits of information on our war on terror but our policy should be to stop terror wherever it happens. Around 300,000 people have been deliberately killed as a result of his policies and two million displaced in ruthless attacks."

The revelation comes days after UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland accused Sudan of fuelling the worsening conflict in Darfur. He said the number of people in "desperate need" of aid had risen to four million, up from one million two years ago. Egeland also accused Sudan's government of obstructing international aid efforts and "arming to the teeth" Arab militias accused of attacks on Darfur villagers.

More than 200,000 people have died in three years of conflict in Darfur and millions have been displaced. The refugees are mostly black Africans whose villages have been attacked by militias made up of nomadic Arab herdsmen.

Khartoum has been accused of backing the militias to put down an uprising by Darfur's rebel groups in 2003.

In a parliamentary answer slipped out last week, foreign minister Ian McCartney admitted that Abdallah, head of the Sudanese Intelligence and Security Service, had been granted two single entry visas to the UK this year. But he insisted that the government had used the opportunity to raise its concerns over Darfur.

The episode carries uncomfortable echoes of the case of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, who caused the government huge embarrassment when he came to Britain for back surgery. He was later arrested over human rights abuses on a Spanish warrant but allowed to go home after the government decided he was unfit to stand trial.

"On both occasions General Salah came to the UK for urgent medical treatment," McCartney told Tory MP Andrew Mitchell. "While here he discussed Darfur with UK officials.

"He is an influential member of the Sudanese government and it therefore makes sense to raise matters of concern with him. At present he is not subject to any UN or EU sanctions or travel restrictions."

Scotland on Sunday understands Abdallah was treated at the Cromwell Hospital in London, but his health problem remained undisclosed.

Abdallah first visited in March when the then-foreign secretary Jack Straw was declaring that Africa was at the heart of British foreign policy, and that Britain wanted to help find a solution for the Darfur crisis. He returned in August, as Blair sent a letter to the Sudanese president, Field Marshal Umar al Bashir, supporting efforts to achieve peace and stability in Darfur.

The Prime Minister has described the situation in Darfur as "completely unacceptable" and warned Sudan it risks international isolation if it does not act and accept UN peacekeeping troops.

Abdallah was among several senior figures, including President al Bashir, accused by a leading human rights watchdog last year of bearing responsibility for widespread atrocities in Darfur. Human Rights Watch said Bashir and 15 other current and former senior officials in the government, military commanders and local administrators should be subject to UN sanctions and probed for war crimes and crimes against humanity.