Sudan updates
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Sudan is to send its former strongman leader Omar al-Bashir and other officials to the International Criminal Court to stand trial for alleged genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The cabinet “decided to extradite those wanted by the ICC”, Sudan’s foreign minister Mariam al-Mahdi said on Wednesday, according to state media, referring to The Hague-based court. The move came during a visit to Khartoum by the ICC chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and after Sudan’s cabinet last week voted unanimously to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC.
The move to extradite the former leader needs final approval from a meeting between the cabinet and the sovereign council, a hybrid military-civilian body that leads Sudan’s transitional period following Bashir’s fall, al-Mahdi said. She did not provide a timeline.
Bashir’s regime was accused of committing atrocities in Darfur, a region in the west of the country, during an uprising by non-Arab rebels against Bashir’s Arab-dominated government that started in 2003.
According to the ICC, Bashir, who ruled for 30 years until he was deposed in 2019, faces charges of crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, and rape. He is also accused of war crimes, such as directing attacks against a civilian population, and genocide.
Bashir, 77, was toppled in a coup after months of revolutionary protests, mainly spurred by women, in which millions of ordinary Sudanese took to the streets demanding his resignation. In Sudan, Bashir was found guilty of corruption and faces charges related to the 1989 coup that brought him to power as well as other alleged crimes, including extrajudicial killings and the killing of protesters whose uprising, sparked by high bread prices, persuaded the military to abandon the country’s leader.
The decision to hand over Bashir was first made in late June. But Wednesday’s public comments showed “the government is unquestionably committed to it”, said Amjed Farid, who until recently worked as assistant chief of staff to the prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, who rose to the premiership following Bashir’s ousting. “One of the promises of the revolution is to give justice to all victims of the crimes committed” during Bashir’s rule, said Farid.
Although Sudan was not part of the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice when the alleged crimes were said to have taken place, the UN Security Council referred the Darfur allegations to the ICC prosecutor for investigation. The ICC has been pressing for the trial of Bashir, who is in prison in Khartoum, and issued its first arrest warrant for him in 2009.
The UN estimates that about 300,000 people died in the conflict in Darfur and 2.7m were displaced. The Janjaweed horseback militia, initially a ragtag force formed by Bashir, was blamed by human rights groups for some of the worst atrocities, including scorched-earth tactics.