Sudan’s new court to try Darfur war criminals began work on Tuesday, but rebels and rights groups slammed it as a deliberate bid by the government to avoid prosecutions by an international tribunal. ”A national court cannot be a substitute to an international one,” said the United Nations’ representative in the Sudan.
Sudan rejected on Thursday world pressure, led by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, for international intervention in the war-torn western region of Darfur, insisting it is taking its own steps to rein in government-sponsored militias accused of ethnic cleansing.