The PM of Sudan backs ICC about war crimes cases in Darfur
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok assured on Sunday to cooperate with International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda when she collected information about the war crimes in Darfur.
Hamdok, who succeeded toppled autocrat Omar al-Bashir, said: This historic visit is a testimony to the total reform of the new Sudan. In fact, Bashir is in prison in Khartoum, however is demanded by the ICC to face accusations of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The former president was overthrown after large protests that started in December 2018, he actually oversaw the civil war in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where 300,000 people were died and 2.5 million were forced to quit their homes.
Hamdok also declared in a statement: Our commitment to achieving justice is not only an international one, but a direct response to deliver on the slogans of the December revolution.
Nevertheless, there was no reference to al-Bashir himself, who has already been condemned at home on corruption accusations and he is on court in Khartoum for the 1989 coup that took him to power, and he possibly faces the death penalty if he accused really on this charge. But, Hamdok informed the Financial Times earlier this month that he had spoken with the ICC over the option of trying al-Bashir in Sudan, possibly in a hybrid court.
Moreover, State news agency SUNA reported that the visit of Bensouda concentrated on two items, the one was discussing cooperation between the ICC and Sudan’s judiciary, and the second was gathering information related to the issue of Ali Kushayb.
On the other hand, Militia leader Kushayb, a top commander of the government-backed Janjaweed forces accused of carrying out certain of the worst atrocities in Darfur, capitulated to the ICC in June, and is now in keeping. He faces court on 53 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Bensouda arrived Saturday and is in the country until Wednesday, and she also met Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari. Two other suspects, Ahmed Haroun, the ex-governor of South Kordofan state, and Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein, a former defense minister, also face ICC accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the two are in custody in Sudan. A fifth man demanded by the ICC, dissident leader Abdallah Banda, still free.
