Sudan on Tuesday rejected the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court (ICC), insisting it would try Darfur war criminals after the court named a minister and a militia leader as suspects.
”The Sudanese judiciary has the capacity and the will to prosecute those who have committed crimes in Darfur,” Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi said when asked to react to the ICC’s naming of the war-crimes suspects.
He spoke after ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in The Hague accused Secretary of State for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kosheib of having ”jointly committed crimes against the civilian population of Darfur”.
Mardi already on Monday rejected the ICC’s authority, saying ”this court has no jurisdiction when it comes to trying Sudanese”.
On Tuesday, Mardi said Kosheib was detained late last year but stressed that Haroun — a former minister in charge of Darfur — had been interrogated by the authorities and cleared of any suspicions over alleged crimes.
”Ali Kosheib has been detained since November 28 2006; he was interrogated and charges were pressed against him for crimes against human rights,” the minister said, adding that the suspect was still in custody.
Mardi nevertheless rejected Moreno-Campo’s allegations that Kosheib was a key Janjaweed leader.
”He belongs to a regular force, the Popular Defence Forces (PDF), whose creation is backed by legislation,” the minister said at a press conference convened in Khartoum minutes after the ICC prosecutor’s announcement.
Human rights groups have accused the paramilitary PDF — together with the Janjaweed militia — of acting as proxies for the regular army by meting out fierce punishment on civilians in response to the rebel uprising that started four years ago in the western Sudanese region.
”Ahmed Haroun was interrogated by the judiciary, but there was no evidence against him, and so no charges were pressed,” Mardi said.
Haroun is a senior figure in the Sudanese regime — which stands accused of genocide by the United States — and is considered close to President Omar al-Bashir.
The United Nations says about 200 000 people have died in the fighting and 2,5-million have been displaced since 2003.
Fighting continues today despite a May 2006 peace agreement, which was signed by the Khartoum government but only one rebel faction. — AFP
