Darfur’s special prosecutor asks government to accept resignation

April 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Ministry of Justice issued a statement today revealing that its special prosecutor for Darfur Abdel-Dayem Zumrawi asked the government to accept his resignation.

This followed reports this week by local media that Zumrawi, who is also the Justice Ministry Undersecretary, informed the Sudanese presidency in late March about his intention to step down.

According to the statement his request was made for personal reasons and has yet to be accepted.

Zumrawi was appointed last October as a special prosecutor for Darfur to replace his predecessor Nimr Ibrahim Mohamed who occupied this position since 2003.

But the Justice Ministry stressed in its release that Zumrawi resigned in his capacity as an Undersecretary and not as a special prosecutor.

It stressed that Zumrawi’s team handling the Darfur crimes dossier is still functioning.

Sudan has sought to prove its seriousness in going after perpetrators of war crimes allegedly committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur by appointing a special prosecutor and establishing special courts.

But no progress has been reported in the work of the special prosecutor since establishing the post.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) referred the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March 2005 after a U.N. international commission of inquiry concluded that the Sudanese judiciary is unwilling or unable to carry out credible prosecutions in the war ravaged region.

To date, the Hague tribunal charged three individuals from the government side including president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, South Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun and militia leader Ali Kushayb.

All three face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity but Bashir is also wanted for genocide in connection with claims that he orchestrated a campaign to wipe out the African tribes of Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit in Darfur.

Sudan denies the charges as a western plot aimed at toppling the regime and refused to surrender the suspects.

Last January, the state minister for justice Bol Lul Wang told Reuters that Khartoum has not conducted serious investigations into the alleged war crimes in Darfur. He also claimed that the Sudanese government has no will to go after suspects because of the high-level position they occupy.

“The prosecutor may find some difficulties taking procedures against them [Haroun & Kushayb] because they are being protected by the government,” Wang said.

“These people are high figures in the government. The government has no will to pursue or even investigate those people … It is not serious. Because if it was serious they would not let a man like Haroun hold a ministerial post.”

An African Union panel headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki was tasked with working on ensuring that Sudan establish mechanisms to bring justice to Darfuris particularly through hybrid courts as well as making changes to the penal code.

But Khartoum resisted the idea and Mbeki acknowledged in a report last November that he had little success in pushing Khartoum to implement his justice proposals.

U.N. officials estimate that as many as 300,000 people have died in Darfur since insurgents took up arms in 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the arid region. Khartoum puts the death toll at around 10,000.

(ST)