Abdel Raheem Mohamed Hussein, Sudan’s defense minister, wanted by ICC
Two girls walk through the market in the Abushouk Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, home to nearly 55,000 people, near the North Darfur capital El Fasher. Nearly a decade after government-backed Janjaweed militias began a “genocide” in Sudan’s Darfur, shootings, rapes, looting and arson continue, residents say.
Abdel Raheem Mohamed Hussein, Sudan's defense minister, has been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Associated Press reported.
Hussein is the third senior regime official sought by the court for his alleged involvement in the atrocities in Darfur, the AP reported. Among others, the ICC has also indicted President Omar al-Bashir on charges of orchestrating genocide, Reuters reported. Al-Bashir has denied the charges saying they are politically motivated, BBC News reported. He remains at large.
More from GlobalPost: Sudan News: Turabi predicts revolt against President Bashir
Abdel Raheem Mohamed Hussein faces seven counts of crimes against humanity and six war crimes including murder, persecution, rape and torture. The charges cover 41 different incidents, the AP reported.
Hussein served as Sudan's interior minister from 2001 to 2005 and was also al-Bashir's special representative for Darfur from 2003 to 2004, Al Jazeera reported.
"The evidence allowed the office of the prosecutor to conclude that Mr Hussein is one of those who bears the greatest criminal responsibility," Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the head ICC prosecutor, said in December, according to Al Jazeera.
The mainly Arab Janjaweed militia is accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Darfur's black African population in 2003, BBC reported.
According to the ICC, the attacks followed a pattern, with Sudan's military surrounding a village, the air force bombing it, and soldiers and Janjaweed fighters killing, raping and looting on foot, BBC reported.
More from GlobalPost: ICC to investigate Ivory Coast violence
"The plan of the counter-insurgency campaign was allegedly formulated at the highest levels of the government of the Republic of the Sudan and had allegedly as a core component an unlawful attack on that part of the civilian population perceived by the government as being close to the rebel groups," the ICC statement said, according to the BBC.
The UN estimates 300,000 Sudanese have died and 2.7 million have been displaced in the conflict, the AP reported.
Several rebel groups have since signed peace deals with the government, according to the AP. Darfur’s two main rebel factions, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement, have yet to do so.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!