Darfur genocide: ICC sentences Sudanese militia leader

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced a Sudanese militia leader to 20 years in prison for his complicity in atrocities committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region between 2003 and 2004, according to Africa News and AP on December 9th.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, better known as Ali Kushayb, was the commander of the Janjaweed militia, which translates to “Devils on horseback.”

The 76-year-old was convicted of 27 charges linked to war crimes and crimes against humanity at the ICC on October 6th, with prosecutors seeking a life sentence for the former militia leader.

He had initially been charged with 31 crimes in relation to atrocities committed by the Janjaweed under his command between August 2003 and March 2004, which is referred to as the “Darfur genocide.”

Kushayb was accused of overseeing a campaign of torture, persecution, murder, the deliberate targeting of civilians and rape as a weapon of war.

In 2003, the Janjaweed was sent by the Sudanese government to suppress a civilian-led uprising against the oppressive Arab Sudanese regime, which was under the control of the then-dictator Omar Al-Bashir.

The uprising was led by ethnic Africans who sought to end systematic oppression and centralised power that was held by the Arab Sudanese elite.

However, Kushayb’s complicity in the genocide was not limited to commanding his fighters, as the court found that he personally participated in attacks.

According to Judge Korner, Kushayb ordered his men to “wipe out” non-Arab communities and told them to “leave no one alive.”

UN records indicate that up to 300,000 people were killed in the ethnically motivated conflict, while a further 2.5 million more were displaced.

On behalf of the government in Khartoum, Janjweed forces travelled from village to village on horseback, where they would kill men and boys, torch the village, and force women into sexual slavery.

The conflict lasted from 2003 to 2020, with Al-Bashir being ousted in a 2019 military coup after being in power for 30 years. The former Sudanese President is facing an ICC arrest warrant for genocide, which he denies.

However, a power struggle between the country’s military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, resulted in civil war breaking out in April 2023.

The reportedly UAE-backed RSF are viewed as a successor to the Janjaweed forces, with human rights groups raising concerns that RSF-led killings are a “continuation of the Darfur genocide.”

On July 10th, prosecutors at the ICC revealed evidence that war crimes were being committed in the Darfur region by RSF rebels. A UN official also warned on June 23rd that the risk of genocide occurring in Sudan was “very high” due to the RSF carrying out ethnically motivated violence.

Africa News and AP, Maghrebi.org