Sudan officials differ over proposal to try
Darfur suspects in Arusha
By Valentine Marc Nkwame
There has been a tug-of-war in the Sudanese political arena, following the
recent proposals that suspects of the Darfur Genocide cases be brought to Arusha
and be tried at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Sudanese opposition parties from across the political spectrum pressed for
Darfur war crimes suspects to stand trial abroad, backing the international
community against the Khartoum regime
According to the Sudanese independent daily, Al-Ayam, Groups ranging from the
Communist Party to the Islamist Popular Congress, stated that the 51 suspects
named by a UN commission of inquiry should be tried abroad as they included
senior officials.
They warned the government of the possible dire consequences that would result
from opposing a UN Security Council resolution ordering foreign trials.
Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, deputy chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party, one of
Sudan's oldest factions, said he could not conceive of the world body endorsing
trials inside Sudan and urged the government to be realistic.
Faruq Kadudah of the Communist Party, insisted that the trials be held in the
presence of Sudanese judges in Arusha, Tanzania, where the UN-backed tribunal
for Rwanda (ICTR) currently sits. "This is a middle-of-the road solution,"
Kadudah maintained.
Popular Congress Deputy Secretary, General Abdullah Hassan Ahmed, backed the
Arusha court proposal, which is also being supported by the United States.
But the rival Umma Party of former prime minister, Sadek al-Mahdi, said it
preferred that the trials be held before the International Criminal Court (ICC),
in The Hague and urged Sudanese to welcome the idea.
The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan by contrast has called for the ICC to be
given jurisdiction over the Darfur cases.
It was left to former chief justice Dafaalla al-Haj Yusuf to defend the Sudanese
government's refusal to hand over suspects for trial overseas.
"The International Criminal Court is not empowered to hold such trials except in
case of failure by the Sudanese judiciary to try a suspect," said Yusuf, who
heads a government-appointed committee of investigation into human rights abuses
in Darfur.
Yusuf said his committee was already making the necessary investigations to hold
such trials inside the country (Sudan).
The UN commission of inquiry last month found government forces and allied
militias responsible for the killing of civilians, torture, enforced
disappearances, destruction of villages, rape, and forced displacement in Darfur.
It named 51 of individuals, that according to the commission, ought to be held
to account.
Tens of thousands have died and about 1.6 million people displaced since the
government unleashed Arab militias against an uprising launched by ethnic
minority rebels two years ago.
The militias carried out a scorched earth campaign against the rebels that as
far as the United States is concerned, amounted to genocide.
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