It has been three years since the United Nations' representative in Sudan called Darfur "the world's greatest humanitarian crisis".

Human rights groups believe about 200,000 people have died there since violence began between fighters representing Darfur's mostly black African population and Khartoum's predominantly Arab-based government.

For years there had been tensions between black farmers and Arab herders in a competition for land.

The conflict led to the establishment of anti-government forces to protect black African interests.

Al Jazeera Exclusive

Watch Mohamed Vall's interview with Gaddoura

The two main anti-government groups are the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), although both groups contain splits within themselves, some along ethnic lines.

In the first of a series of reports, Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall spoke to the commander of the local Abdul Wahid group, a faction of the SLA, about his continuing fight against the Sudanese government.

Commander Gaddoura had never shown his face to the world before and Vall travelled to the peaks of Jebel Marra - a mountain range in the heart of Darfur - to speak to him.

His exclusive interview comes from a region which Abdul Wahid consider to be a "liberated areas," free of governement control.