The first trial addressing atrocities in Darfur opens at the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, nearly 20 years after the Sudanese region was racked by widespread violence that left hundreds of thousands dead.
Suspected former Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman faces 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including persecution, murder, rape and torture. “(Tuesday) is a momentous day for victims and survivors in Darfur who never stopped fighting to see the day the cycle of impunity is broken,” Sudanese human rights lawyer Mossaad Mohamed Ali of the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies said in a statement.
Prosecutors accuse the septuagenarian Abd-Al-Rahman, whom they say was also known as Ali Kushayb, of being a senior commander of thousands of pro-government Janjaweed fighters during the 2003-2004 height of the Darfur conflict. Abd-Al-Rahman denies the charges. During earlier court appearances he and his lawyer argued that he was the victim of mistaken identity and that he was not educated enough to understand the orders he carried out could result in war crimes.
The alleged Janjaweed leader voluntarily surrendered to The Hague-based court in June 2020 after 13 years on the run. The trial comes amid an upsurge in what humanitarian groups say is inter-communal violence in Darfur since the end of the United Nations and African Union mission there.
Darfur’s conflict first erupted when mostly non-Arab rebel stook up arms against Sudan’s government, which responded with a counter-insurgency. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to crush the revolt, unleashing a wave of violence that Washington and some activists said amounted to genocide.
Source: SABC
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