In This Article
Subscribe to International UpdatesArrest Warrants Issued for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Darfur
by
findingDulcinea Staff
An International Court has issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese government official and a Janjaweed military leader for alleged war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan. These are the first arrest warrants that have been issued on an international level for an alleged genocide in Darfur.
30 Second Summary
The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the arrest of the Sudanese Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and a leader of the Janjaweed, an African Arab pro-government militia. Both are being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Sudan has rejected theses arrest warrants stating that Sudan is not under the jurisdiction of the ICC and therefore these men cannot be tried by the Court.
According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, militias have “reportedly killed, raped and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes in Darfur.” Fighting began in early 2003 and by 2004, over 200,000 Sudanese had fled to Chad.
The ICC was established by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court in 1999 and is an independent, permanent court "that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes."
Sudan has rejected theses arrest warrants stating that Sudan is not under the jurisdiction of the ICC and therefore these men cannot be tried by the Court.
According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, militias have “reportedly killed, raped and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes in Darfur.” Fighting began in early 2003 and by 2004, over 200,000 Sudanese had fled to Chad.
The ICC was established by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court in 1999 and is an independent, permanent court "that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes."
Headline
The International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor stated that the warrants showed the strength of their case. ''We transformed their [the witnesses] stories into evidence, and now the judges have confirmed the strength of that evidence,” stated Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
Source: International Herald Tribune
The Press Release from the ICC states, “Pre-Trial Chamber I issued warrants of arrest for crimes against humanity and war crimes for Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of Sudan and currently Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Rahman ("Ali Kushayb"), a leader of the Militia/Janjaweed.”
Source: ICC Press Release
The Background
"Sudan rejects the ICC prosecutor's decision and our position is in line with international law because Sudan is not a member of the treaty that founded this jurisdiction," Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi told reporters.
Source: Sudan.net
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has also rejected a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur stating that a deployment of a U.N. force, “will transform the country into another Iraq.”
Source: Sudan Tribune
According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, militias have “reportedly killed, raped and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes in Darfur.” Fighting began in early 2003 and by 2004, over 200,000 Sudanese had fled to Chad.
Source: United Nations High Commission on Refugees
According to PBS, more than 2 million Darfuris have been displaced and 70,000 have been killed since December 2004. The interactive site “Who’s Who” in Darfur shows the relationships among the major players in the Darfur conflict.
Source: PBS Frontline World
The International Criminal Court is “an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes…The Court will not act if a case is investigated or prosecuted by a national jurisdiction unless those proceedings are not genuine.”
Source: International Criminal Court
Key Players
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, a rebel group, argues that the successive governments in Sudan have only made ‘superficial attempts’ to solve the economic and political strife in Southern Sudan. Uganda, a neighboring country, has supported the SPLM.
Source: Country Watch
Like the SPLM, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army emerged in February 2003 as a rebel group seeking greater political and economic rights. In response to the formation of these rebel groups, the Janjaweed, an African Arab pro-government militia formed. They are accused of widespread attacks on civilians including ethnic cleansing through widespread rapes, killings and forced displacement.
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The African Union is the only United Nations funded peacekeeping regional force deployed in Darfur. The AU was established in 1999 by the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity to accelerate “the process of integration in the continent to enable it to play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation.”
Source: African Union
Historical Context
After a twenty-one year civil war, the government and rebels signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. The agreement provides for a President of Sudan, and a Vice President of South Sudan, creating two autonomous regions within one country.
Source: BBC
According to International Crisis Group, Sudan’s longest civil war, which began in 1983 and ended in 2005, was between the Muslims in the north and the Christians and Animists in the south. The south, west (Darfur) and the east of Sudan have become engulfed by this conflict, which has recently restarted.
Source: International Crisis Group
Reference Material
The Stop Darfur Task Force, started in 2005 in the United States, hopes to end genocide in Sudan by encouraging divestment from the country. Campaigners believer there is a correlation between the Sudanese government’s oil revenue and an increase in military spending. It has been alleged that some of this military spending was used to employ the Janjaweed, a pro-government militia, in genocide-like attacks in Darfur.
Source: Sudan Tribune
SaveDarfur is an alliance of over 170 faith-based organizations who aim to end violence in Darfur. SaveDarfur’s mission is to “raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of two million people in the Darfur region.”
Source: Save Darfur
Related Topics
Many Darfuris have fled their towns because of the attacks from the pro-government Janjaweed militia; yet this forced immigration has led to overcrowding. In Tanwilla, a bordering town in Chad, twenty thousand people live without healthcare or sanitation.
Source: BBC article
Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, speaks with National Public Radio about her experience as a reporter in Darfur. Powers describes a Janjaweed attack on a village: “It is like the image of a stampede…men tell the women and children to hide because the Janjaweed will kill children and women as well as men.”
Source: NPR story
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