SUDAN’S transitional authorities and rebel groups have agreed to hand over former president Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, including mass killings in Darfur.
Al-Bashir, who was overthrown by the military last year amid a public uprising, is wanted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide related to the Darfur conflict. He has been in jail in Sudan’s capital Khartoum since then on charges of corruption and killing protesters.
Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a member of the Sovereign Council and a government negotiator, said the council agreed with rebel groups in Darfur to hand over those wanted by the ICC to face justice in The Hague. He did not mention al-Bashir by name.
Al-Taishi did not say when they would transfer al-Bashir and others wanted by the ICC, and the transitional administration would need to ratify the ICC’s Rome Statute to allow for the transfer of the former president to The Hague.
Al-Taishi spoke in South Sudan’s capital Juba, where the government and rebels are holding talks to end the decades-long civil war.
In the Darfur conflict, rebels among the territory’s ethnic Central African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of discrimination and oppression by the Arab-dominated Khartoum government. The government responded with a scorched earth assault of aerial bombings and unleashed the Janjaweed, an Arab militia. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million driven from their homes.
Along with al-Bashir, the ICC has indicted two other senior figures in his regime – former interior and defence minister, Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein and senior security chief Ahmed Haroun.
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