Sudanese ICC suspect at scene of fresh crimes in Darfur: HRW
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June 6, 2013 (NAIROBI) – There are calls for the UN Security Council
to take action, amid claims that a top Sudanese military commander
wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) led or participated
in the April attacks on ethnic Salamat communities in Central Darfur.
Witnesses cited by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement released on
Monday said that the attackers appeared to include government forces
using state-issued weapons and equipment.
In 2007, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Ali Kushayb, also known
as Ali Mohammed Ali, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in
West Darfur in 2003 and 2004.
The former militia leader, who now serves in a high-ranking post with
the auxiliary Central Reserve Police, was detained by Sudanese
authorities that same year on unrelated charges and again in 2008, but
later released him due to a lack of evidence.
AT THE SCENE
“Witnesses place Ali Kushayb at the scene of recent killing, burning,
and looting in Darfur,” said HRW’s Africa director Daniel Bekele “This
shows that allowing fugitives to remain at liberty can have a
devastating price”, he added.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was also briefed on the
matter by the ICC prosecutor this Wednesday.
HRW has urged the UNSC to press Sudan to surrender Kushayb to the ICC
immediately.
Heavily armed members of the Misseriya and Ta’isha ethnic groups have
been carrying out periodic attacks on ethnic Salamat communities in
and around Um Dukhun, Central Darfur since early April.
More than 100 civilians were killed and scores more were injured in
the clashes, which also resulted in the burning and destruction of
property and the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
Witnesses have placed Kushayb at the scene of an attack on the town of
Abu Jeradil, 30kms south of Um Dukhun, on 8 April, where he was
allegedly seen riding in a government vehicle.
According to eyewitness accounts, large numbers of heavily armed men,
most wearing khaki uniforms, arrived in waves, first on foot and then
in vehicles, before opening fire indiscriminately, burning homes and
shops, stealing livestock, and looting goods.
The attackers were reportedly travelling in a convoy of government
land cruisers and were armed with rockets, anti-aircraft weapons;
rocket propelled grenades, and other weapons, although HRW was not
able to independently verify the reports.
“The [attackers] were shooting at shops and people. We saw houses and
fields on fire as we fled,” an elderly man from Abu Jeradil told HRW.
Salamat men told HRW they fought back using rifles but were far
outnumbered and outgunned by the attackers, whom they identified as
members of the Central Reserve Police, Border Intelligence and
militia.
More than 30,000 refugees, mostly women and children, crossed into
Chad following the outbreak of violence, where conditions remain dire
amid the onset of the rainy season.
Although most of the displaced people are of Salamat ethnicity, other
non-Arab ethnic groups have also been caught up in the fighting.
“They didn’t see any difference between communities; they just wanted
people to leave. They stole our cows and burned our crops and took our
clothes from our house and burned the house down. We saw them”, one
Tama woman from Abu Jeradil told HRW.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Sudan’s government has repeatedly downplayed its responsibility for
the violence in Darfur, saying it does not have the capacity to
control inter-ethnic fighting.
Conflict over land and other resources has intensified in 2013,
displacing more than 170,000 people in Darfur and Chad, according to
UN estimates.
A long-running land dispute between the Salamat and Ta’isha ethnic
groups is blamed for the recent fighting, with tensions flaring
between the two groups in 2012 when the government created the state
of Central Darfur, a move that appeared to consolidate Salamat power.
In late January, Kushayb, who is part Ta’isha, gave an incendiary
speech at a market in South Darfur, accompanied by local government
officials and ethnic leaders, stating that he was not just a Central
Reserve Police commander but also a ‘janjaweed’ commander, calling on
Ta’isha fighters to join with him to protect their land.
NO PROTECTION
HRW research found that the Sudanese government had facilitated
attacks by the state security forces, taking no steps to protect
civilians from the fighting.
The reason for the government’s support for one side in the fighting
remains unclear, although observers consulted by HRW suggest that
Sudanese leaders wanted to appease ethnic Misseriya and Ta’isha men
who fought in the pro-government ‘janjaweed’ militia forces during the
Darfur conflict in the mid-2000s, and consider the Salamat to be
Chadian nationals.
Salamat relations with neighbouring Misseriya Arabs deteriorated
sharply in early 2013 following a series of armed robberies allegedly
carried out by the Misseriya on Salamat youth.
The Ta’isha and Misseriya joined forces and attacked dozens of Salamat
towns and villages starting on 5 April at Biltebe, with attackers
burning property in some 24 villages, according to estimates by UN
agencies in the area.
(ST)
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