In a world exclusive, Unreported World secures unprecedented access to one of the main Arab militias accused of belonging to the infamous Janjaweed, who are blamed for the atrocities in Darfur. Their leader tells the programme that his men were armed with weapons - many of them Chinese made - by the Sudanese government up until October 2007 in what appears to be a clear violation of the UN arms embargo.

Reporter Nima Elbagir and Director Andrew Carter begin their journey in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. The authorities initially deny them access to Darfur, but the team finally finds a pilot willing to land his plane on a make-shift South Darfur airstrip, directed in by smoke from fires lit by a waiting militia escort.

Using back routes and donkey-cart tracks to avoid Government forces, the team spends three days traveling across open country until they reach Commander Mohammed Hamdan's garrison in the North West of South Darfur state. Hemmed in by the Sudanese Government to the East and North, conflict in Chad to the West and tribal battles to the South, it's less than 100km from the government stronghold of Nyala.

They arrive to an uncertain reception and are eventually allowed to pitch camp on the outskirts of the garrison in which around a thousand well-armed men are based. After further discussions, Hamdan grants them permission to film freely with his men and so begins an extraordinary few days.

The Sudanese Government has continually denied any links between itself and Janjaweed militias in Darfur, but Hamdan tells Elbagir that his men were effectively a regiment of the Sudanese army. He claims that he had received orders directly from the Sudanese President Omar Al Basheer in two face-to-face meetings, including one at Basheer's Khartoum home.

His men show Elbagir and Carter their Sudanese Armed Forces identity cards and considerable arsenal of mortars, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns. They claim that they were all supplied by the Government and they were given training in how to use them by the army. Unreported World is told that much of the heavy artillery is Chinese-made, seemingly supplied in violation of a UN arms embargo.

Mohammed Hamdan's forces are credited with blocking the rebel push into North Darfur and securing the territory for Khartoum. But last October Hamdan and his 20,000 men defected from the government and began forming alliances with non-Arab rebel groups who had been their enemies.

The fighters tell Elbagir that they were exploited by the Sudanese government to fight its battles while being excluded from the political process and made scapegoats for atrocities they say they are not responsible for. It's the first time they have sat down with foreigners, and having heard themselves called Devils on Horseback in radio reports they are desperate to hear how the west views them.

Khartoum initially reacted to Hamdan's defection by bombing his forces, but he claims the Government has changed track. He tells the team that throughout their stay, he has been in contact with mediators who are offering him money to return to the fold. However, he claims that he wants the Government to fulfill its promises to invest in development in Arab areas in Darfur, and to give his people a share in power. He says until his demands are met he is willing to fight alongside his former foes against Khartoum.

After several days at the garrison the team is told that the Sudanese government has become aware of their presence, and they must leave quickly before they are intercepted. As the team prepares to leave, Hamdan assembles hundreds of his men at dawn. His talks with the government have failed. Rifles aloft they swear they will fight the Government until judgement day.

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