Sudanese JEM rebel leader opts for Darfur criminal court

PARIS, France, May 3, 2005 (PANA) — The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) chairman Khalid Ibrahim Monday declared support for an internationally- backed special criminal court to try perpetrators of war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, but suggested the court sits in Darfur where crimes were committed.

“Crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed in Darfur. We are supporting the creation of a special court to try the perpetrators. For us, this court should be set up not in The Hague or anywhere else, but in the very Darfur,” he said in an interview with PANA here.

The Sudanese rebel leader, who was en route to Italy to meet the officials of the NGO Sant-Egidio, accused the Khartoum government of pursuing genocide in western Sudan, claiming that some 300,000 people have died in the nearly two-year-old civil war.

“The criminal methods once applied in Southern Sudan are being re- introduced today in Darfur. This is an ethnic cleansing whose masterminds are clearly identifiable. We are demanding their urgent arraignment (before a court). The international community owes this to the victims and their families,” Ibrahim stressed.

Last March the United Nations presented a list of some 60 suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in connection with the civil war in Darfur, containing the names of operatives from all sides of the conflict.

But neither the Khartoum government, which rejected trial of its nationals by the ICC, nor the rebels claiming a special court in Darfur seem to be satisfied with the UN decision.

Justifying the resort to armed conflict, Ibrahim affirmed that JEM’s mission was a “war of liberation” to install democracy, respect of human rights and a better distribution of national resources in Sudan.

“We were reluctant to take up arms… we could not find any other alternative to fight a dictatorial regime. Today, 95 percent of Sudanese live on less than a dollar per day and without water or electricity. We want to put an end to such injustice in a country endowed with immense natural resources,” he said.

“We don’t want anything for ourselves. We want neither to be ministers nor to have natural resources in Darfur. We want justice and equality among Sudanese. To this end, there is need to try all the criminals who have perpetrated atrocities there,” the rebel leader maintained.

According to him, at least one million people have fled the fighting between the government army supported by the Janjaweed militias and the three rebel movements in Darfur for over 18 months.

A cease-fire sealed between the belligerents and supervised by an African Union mission has failed to prevent renewed hostilities that continue to claim lives and force thousands into exile.