Sudanese militia commander wanted for war crimes surrenders to ICC

June 10, 2020 News, Newsbeat, Sudan

Sudanese militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abdel-Rahman (Photo credit: Unknown)

June 10, 2020 (SSNN) – Sudanese militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abdel-Rahman, who is commonly known as Ali Kushayb, has surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) from the Central African Republic and has been transferred to The Hague where he is being detained and awaits trial.

Kushayb is a senior Janjaweed commander who supported the Sudanese government against Darfur rebel groups during the Omar al-Bashir presidency. He was indicted by the ICC for war crimes.

Kushayb was known as Aqid al Oqada (or “colonel of colonels”) and was active in Wadi Salih, West Darfur.

Brad Brooks-Rubin, Managing Director of The Sentry, welcomed the development saying the surrender and his subsequent arrest are triumph for international justice for crimes committed in Africa.

“The surrender of Ali Kushayb to the ICC is a modest triumph for the cause of accountability for atrocity crimes in Africa. This represents a glimpse of hope for people in Darfur and around the world who desperately seek justice and security but are too often forgotten. Hopefully, Kushayb’s decades-long career of mass murder, atrocities, rape, and terror has finally come to an end,” Brad said.

Dr. Suliman Baldo, a Senior Analyst at The Sentry, said “Ali Kushayb’s transfer to the ICC offers a stark reminder to all that two million Sudanese victims of the Bashir regime’s 2003-2005 genocidal campaign in Darfur are still awaiting justice in camps for the war-displaced in their own country.”

“Sudanese transitional authorities must follow suit and act on their commitment to cooperate with the ICC by handing the three detained ICC fugitives to the Court — former dictator Bashir, his minister of defense, and the state minister of interior during the Darfur genocide,” he added.

For his part, Nathalia Dukhan, an investigator at The Sentry, said: “Last February, when the Sudanese government announced its willingness to cooperate with the ICC, Ali Kushayb fled Sudan hoping he could find a haven amidst the conflict and chaos of the Central African Republic. There, with 100 militiamen, he committed barbaric crimes along with other CAR militia groups he came to support, adding new victims to his already long list of atrocities as a former leader of the genocidal Janjaweed and other violent security forces under the regime of Omar al Bashir.”