Former militia warns against al-Bashir handover to ICC
November 8, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The pro-Islamist militia of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF) in a statement on Friday threatened to set fire to all parts of the country if Sudanese government hands over ousted President Omer al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The statement comes in response to statements by the ruling coalition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and Prime Minister Ibrahim Hamdok announcing that al-Bashir would be handed over to the war crimes court in The Hague.
“Any attempt to prosecute Brother Bashir outside Sudan will face what they did not expect. This means there would be a mass fire that will spare no one. A word to the wise!”.
However, the statement which seemingly was released by al-Bashir’s supporters said they are not opposed to his trial inside the country.
The PDF, which is established in 1989 after the coup d’etat that brought al-Bashir to power, is now part of the Sudanese army. During the first years of the regime, the Islamists described as a force of mujahedeen who fought the SPLA in South Sudan rebels to defend Islam.
According to the Small Arms Survey, the PDF is structured around a hierarchy of joint military and civilian coordinating committees, with local and state committees reporting to the national coordination council”.
However, the group in a report released in 2007 added that the PDF had “weak central coordination, and tensions between its political and military wings”, and turned into “an increasingly decentralized network”.
The head of the National Congress Party Ibrahim Ghandour several days ago rejected al-Bashir handover to the ICC saying it was an interference in the national sovereignty.
“The trial of any Sudanese outside the country’s borders is interference in national sovereignty and a questioning of the integrity of the Sudanese judiciary,” he said.
The Sudanese government did not yet set a date to his hand over but a member of the Sovereign Council Siddiq Tawer said he would be transferred to The Hague after his trial in Sudan for other crimes
Al-Bashir is nowadays under trial for corruption while the judiciary is preparing for another trial on the 1989 coup.
(ST)