Sudan minister, militia leader suspected of 51 war crimes...

Sudan minister, militia leader suspected of 51 war crimes in Darfur

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-27-darfur-crimes_x.htm?csp=34&POE=click-refer

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court's prosecutor on Tuesday named a former Sudanese junior minister as a suspect for war crimes in Darfur, saying he helped recruit janjaweed militias responsible for murders, rapes and torture.
The investigation by prosecutors at the world's first global war crimes court claimed to establish a clear link between the Sudanese authorities and the janjaweed.

Ahmed Muhammed Harun, the former junior interior minister responsible for the western Darfur region, and a janjaweed militia leader, Ali Mohammed Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, were suspected of a total of 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said.

Sudan's justice minister, Mohammed Ali al-Mardi, rejected the allegations, saying the two men would not be handed over for trial.

"We are not concerned with, nor do we accept, what the International Criminal Court prosecutor has opted for," al-Mardi said in Khartoum.

The prosecutor said investigations were continuing into possible criminal activity on both sides of Darfur's civil conflict, but that the two men were most responsible for crimes.

"We have presented a very solid case," Moreno-Ocampo told a crowded news conference after handing his evidence to a panel of three judges.

Sudan has repeatedly said it will not respect any indictments handed down by the ICC, and it is not a signatory to the convention that created the international court. The investigation was launched in 2005 at the request of the U.N. Security Council.

Harun, who is now the junior minister for humanitarian affairs, and Kushayb were part of conspiracy to "persecute civilians they associated with rebels." Their methods were "indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population, murder, rape, inhumane acts, cruel treatment, unlawful imprisonment, pillaging, forcible transfer and destruction of property," said the prosecution document, seeking a judicial order for the men to be handed over to the Hague-based court.

Harun, who was head of Khartoum's "Darfur Security Desk," recruited janjaweed knowing they would commit crimes against civilians, Moreno-Ocampo said in a 94-page document filed with the court's judges.

Harun, who is in his 40s, is known to be a member of President Omar al-Bashir's inner circle and is regarded as one of the most energetic of the younger leaders in the ruling National Congress Party.

The announcement unveiled details of the investigation for the first time into the region where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in a campaign the White House has called genocide. Fighting erupted in February 2003 when ethnic African tribesmen took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Khartoum government.

"A widely reported characteristic of the armed conflict in Darfur is the great majority of civilian deaths" in the villages attacked by the janjaweed, sometimes together with Sudanese armed forces, prosecutors said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch welcomed the evidence, but said more suspects should be identified.

"We think it's an important first step. It could be the beginning of the end of impunity in Darfur," said Geraldine Mattioli, of Human Rights Watch. "But we hope to see more and we certainly encourage the prosecutor to continue investigations and go higher up the chain of command."

While the prosecution document is not an indictment, it does say that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that Harun and Kushayb "bear criminal responsibility" for the offenses including murder, rape, torture and persecution.

If they are charged, tried and convicted they face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment at the court, which does not have the death penalty.

In Khartoum, there was no immediate government reaction.

Prosecutors said the offenses occurred in four villages. The "janjaweed did not target any rebel presence within these particular towns and villages. Rather, they attacked these towns and villages based on the rationale that the tens of thousands of civilian residents in and near these towns and villages were supporters of the rebel militia."

The strategy "became the justification for the mass murder, summary execution, and mass rape of civilians who were known not to be participants in any armed conflict," prosecutors said. "Application of the strategy also called for, and achieved the forced displacement of entire villages and communities."

Sudan has rejected the ICC's jurisdiction in Darfur, saying it was conducting its own investigations.

Moreno-Ocampo said Sudanese investigators had told him Kushayb had been arrested last November. He called Kushayb a "colonel of colonels" in charge of thousands of janjaweed fighters.

Sudanese authorities described him as a "police assistant," and said he was in the custody of his own superiors for investigation into five incidents in which hundreds of people were killed. The incidents were not the same as those being probed by the ICC, he said.

No charges had been brought against him, the prosecutor said, but Sudanese authorities had told him they would complete the next phase of their investigation next month.


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ICC charges 'politically-motivated': Sudan minister

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070228/wl_africa_afp/sudandarfurunresticcsuspect&printer=1;_ylt=AhsmyOP2iR0JxV6EDNIYwdmZsdEF


ICC charges 'politically-motivated': Sudan minister

by Mohamed Hasni

Wed Feb 28, 6:54 AM ET



A Sudanese minister accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court has dismissed the allegations as false and politically-motivated.

"I can defend myself and I am not worried at all," secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun told reporters late on Tuesday on his return from Jordan, where he had undergone medical tests.

"My conscience is at rest and I do not feel guilty because I acted within the legal framework and in accordance with the general interest," he added.

Haroun, a former interior minister in charge of Darfur, was one of two men accused by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes -- including murder, torture and mass rape.

The other accused is Ali Kosheib, a militia leader, whom the government said was detained in November.

The accusations were the first by the ICC over the atrocities committed in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have been killed and some 2.5 million displaced since the conflict erupted four years ago.

Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi defended Haroun -- who is considered close to President Omar al-Beshir -- and insisted the ICC had no legitimacy to try any Sudanese for any crime.

Moreno-Ocampo, however, stressed that the case, which has been referred to the court by the UN Security Council, is admissible here because the Sudanese justice system was not investigating the same incidents or alleged crimes.

The prosecutor has sent a 100-page document outlining the evidence to the judges who must decide if there are enough grounds to issue a summons or an arrest warrant for the suspects.

The Human Rights Watch group said the naming of the Darfur suspects sent a signal to Khartoum and Janjaweed militia leaders that "ultimately they are not going to get away with the unspeakable atrocities".

Moreno-Ocampo focused his 20-month investigation on events alleged to have occurred between 2003 and 2004, the most violent period in the crisis.

Haroun said he would accept any decision by the Sudanese government and vowed he would display the same "heroic" attitude as late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein should he have to answer to an international court.

He also alleged that the ICC announcement was aimed at scuppering diplomatic efforts led by Libya and Eritrea to revive the peace process in the Western district of Sudan.

According to ICC prosecutors, Haroun recruited, funded and armed the Janjaweed "that would ultimately number in the tens of thousands."

They cited the minister as saying at a public meeting that he had been given "all the power ... to kill or forgive whoever in Darfur".

The ICC may yet name more senior Sudanese officials in its investigation into Darfur war crimes.

While the events in Darfur have been described as "genocide" by the United States and international rights organisations, the term was not included in the ICC's charges, though Moreno-Ocampo did not rule out its eventual use.

Beshir's National Congress Party rejected Moreno-Ocampo's accusations as the latest evidence of what it termed a Western-engineered "conspiracy" against Khartoum.

But its partner in the national unity government, the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement, warned against any attempt to challenge the ICC's decisions.

All Darfur rebel groups also welcomed the ICC announcement.
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