Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, who is charged with 50 war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region, has been transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, after surrendering in the Central African Republic.
The court had issued an arrest warrant for Kushayb on April 27, 2007. “The initial appearance of Mr. Kushayb before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II will take place in due course,” a statement said.
ICC Registrar Peter Lewis thanked Minister of Justice Flavien M’Bata and the authorities of the Central African Republic, the French Republic, the Republic of Chad, as well as the leaders of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the authorities of the host State, the Netherlands, for their support to the Court and cooperation in the arrest, surrender, and transfer of Kushayb to the Court.
A Sudanese national born in 1957, Kushayb “was allegedly one of the most senior leaders in the tribal hierarchy in the Wadi Salih locality and a member of the Popular Defense Forces (PDF) and allegedly commanded thousands of Janjaweed militia from on or about August 2003 until on or about March 2004,” the statement added.
The ICC finds reasonable grounds to charge that, in 2003 and 2004, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Janjaweed militia, acting together during a counter-insurgency campaign, carried out several attacks on the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Arawala and surrounding areas. During these offensives, civilians in these towns were allegedly murdered, raped, forcibly transferred or imprisoned, it continued.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Feb. 23 that Kushayb’s whereabouts were unknown. He escaped to a tribal region to avoid being apprehended, sources had told the newspaper.