Three Darfur war crimes suspects inaugurate new health facilities
March 23, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Three Sudanese officials accused of taking part in the Darfur war crimes inaugurated health facilities in the town of Merowe 350 km north of the capital Khartoum.
Gosh has been accused by human rights group of being one of the Sudanese officials responsible for orchestrating the war crimes in Darfur and counter insurgency campaign. He was identified by the UN panel of experts as an individual who should be sanctioned.
Musa Hilal, leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan, has been named by numerous eyewitnesses in Darfur as leading terror campaign against the African tribes in the war ravaged region.
The tribal leader told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a videotaped interview in 2005, that he only recruited Janjaweed militias on behalf of Sudan’s central government. He is under a travel ban and asset freeze imposed by the UN Security Council (UNSC).
The only official indicted attendee to the inauguration was Haroun who has an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since May 2007 for more than 50 counts of war crimes.
However Sudan has refused to hand over Haroun and the UNSC has been unwilling to pressure Sudan on the issue despite a Chapter VII resolution adopted 3 years ago.
Ironically Hilal was named in the filings made by the ICC prosecutor in February 2007 as making a speech alongside with Haroun in July 2003, which was characterized as “racist”. However he was not named as a war crime suspect.
“Hilal was enthusiastic about unifying to fight the enemy and characterized the conflict as a holy war” the ICC prosecutor said in the document he submitted to the judges.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.
(ST)