Day: June 9, 2021

The departing prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has called on Sudan’s government to transfer four men wanted for war crimes in Darfur to The Hague.

“Sudan has to tangibly demonstrate that the new Sudan is now a fully fledged member of the international community that has joined the fight against impunity and is fully committed to justice and the rule of law,” Fatou Bensouda said Wednesday during her final briefing to the U.N. Security Council as the court’s chief prosecutor.

“Almost all the suspects are in the custody of the government of Sudan, and there is no legal impediment to their surrender to the ICC.”

Only one Darfur war crimes suspect is in ICC custody. Ali Kushayb, whose given name is Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, surrendered voluntarily and was transferred to the ICC a year ago.

The arrest warrant for the former Janjaweed militia commander includes 22 counts of crimes against humanity and 28 counts of war crimes, allegedly committed in 2003 and 2004 in Sudan’s Darfur region. He is suspected of planning and, in some cases, participating in attacks against civilians.

The yearslong conflict between Darfur rebels and the Khartoum government killed more than 300,000 people and displaced 2 million more, causing a humanitarian crisis that is still felt today.

Prosecutor’s ‘historic visit’

Bensouda just returned from her first trip to Darfur.

“My historic visit to Darfur last week opened my eyes even more to the reality of what we and the people of Darfur have been fighting for over the years,” she told the council.

She said that another suspect, former Sudanese Interior Minister Ahmad Harun, who is at large, reportedly wants to surrender to the court, and that there is an “urgent need” to transfer him to The Hague soon.

Harun is charged with many of the same crimes as Kushayb. Their cases were separated because one is in the court’s custody and the other is not. Bensouda said there is still time to rejoin their cases, which would be more efficient and allow witnesses to testify only once about traumatic events.

“Sudan is under a legal obligation to surrender the suspects pursuant to Resolution 1593,” she said of the Security Council resolution that first referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC more than 16 years ago.

Bensouda said last year’s Juba Peace Agreement between Sudan’s government and various rebel groups also states that war crimes suspects must appear before the ICC, and that Sudan should fully cooperate with the ICC’s investigations and prosecutions of these suspects.

Other warrants

The other three outstanding warrants are for former President Omar al-Bashir, who has been in a Khartoum jail since he was ousted during a popular revolution in 2019; Abdallah Banda, former commander of the rebel group Justice and Equality Movement; and former Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein.

Last August, Sudan’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, said the transitional government was ready to cooperate with the court. But so far, it has not handed over any of the suspects. His representative at the Security Council said Wednesday that ending impunity remains a top priority.

“Last week, the prime minister announced that the government ‘is working with the ICC and victim groups to find the best ways to bring wanted suspects to justice before the ICC,’ ” the representative said, quoting Hamdok.

Prosecutor Bensouda leaves the court this month after nearly 20 years, nine of them as the top prosecutor. Her tenure has not always been smooth.

In 2016, African countries threatened a potential exodus from the court over complaints that it disproportionately targeted Africans. They eventually backed down. And in 2019, the Trump administration revoked Bensouda’s U.S. visa and, the following year, sanctioned her and a colleague over investigations into U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Sanctions lifted

The Biden administration lifted those sanctions in early April, and at Wednesday’s meeting, its envoy expressed support for the prosecutor’s work. The U.S. is not a member of the ICC.

“The United States fully supports the ICC’s investigations in Darfur,” Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said. “We call on the civilian-led transitional government to honor its obligations under the Juba Peace Agreement and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1593 to cooperate with the ICC.

“In that regard, the United States has taken — and will continue to take — active steps to encourage the civilian-led transitional government to immediately transfer Ahmed Harun to the court.”

On June 16, Bensouda, a native of Gambia, will be succeeded at the ICC by British human rights lawyer Karim Khan.

Source: Voice of America

On the outskirts of Hawzen, Ethiopia, rocks and dirt cover the bodies of war victims in shallow graves.

Some graves hold dozens of bodies, some only a few. About 200 people are believed to be buried in and around the town after more than seven months of war.

Locals say there are about 20 graves in all, containing bodies that were found in the streets after multiple battles, the most recent of which happened just a few weeks ago. 

Hawzen has changed hands about five times in fights between the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. Militias and Eritrean soldiers also are among the warring parties.

As sand blows over the field outside her house on the edge of town, Letay Girmay, 50, says she helped bury bodies and hopes they can soon be moved to a churchyard.

“The bodies lay … on the ground for seven or eight days,” she said. “And there was no one to help us take them to the church, so a few of us buried them. They smelled bad, rotting and attracting maggots.”

A priest was summoned for a blessing before they covered the bodies.

War-torn town

Inside Hawzen, many buildings are in ruins, and people can be seen funneling water from trucks. Much of the local infrastructure has been destroyed.

Government forces are now in control, manning checkpoints and patrolling the market.

Most of the residents have fled to camps or to the homes of families or friends in safer towns, villages and cities. Nearly 2 million people in the Tigray region are displaced inside Ethiopia and more than 60,000 have fled to neighboring Sudan.

Those remaining in Hawzen are on edge, fearing new battles could break out again at any moment.

“There have been so many bombings,” says a woman selling tomatoes and onions in a market, still open despite the tension. She doesn’t want her name used for security reasons. “Children have died, and houses are destroyed.”

In the market, most sellers lay their wares on tarps on the ground. Vegetables, cooking oil and a little candy is available, but almost no one is buying. The usual shoppers are residents of the town. Many remaining say they only stay because they cannot afford to go anywhere else.

“There is no business at all,” says the woman. “But we sit here all day.”

At an outdoor coffee shop near the market, a 33-year-old man, who also does not want his name used for safety reasons, says he used to own a small grocery store. He sold things like coffee, pasta and sugar. His shop, like so many others, was looted and is now empty, he says. “Now, I have nothing.”

In one of the few restaurants still open, Haftom Gidey, 35, says he was once a waiter in a local hotel. Since the war began, the hotel has been closed and now it is looted and damaged.

But Haftom says poverty is the least of his worries. He also helped bury the dead after bombings and has fled his home several times.

“I’m not afraid,” he insists. “There may be things to fear, but nothing could be worse than what I have already seen.”

Recovery?

The Ethiopian government says it is working to help the people of Tigray recover, distributing aid and prosecuting soldiers accused of sexual violence.

But much of the region is cut off, with roads closed and internet service blocked. The World Food Program says more than 90% of the people in Tigray need emergency food aid. Most health care centers in Tigray are looted and/or damaged, and hundreds of women and girls have reported being raped by Eritrean soldiers, the Amhara regional militias and Ethiopian federal soldiers.

And while the government appears to have captured most of the region, battles continue, with war-wounded arriving at hospitals daily.

In Hawzen, locals say they see no sign of the war abating as they bury their dead themselves.

“The killing continues,” says Letay, as the wind whips up her forest-green head wrap. “Recently we buried another seven bodies near the church.”

Source: Voice of America