Sudan should try Darfur war crimes suspects – minister

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, April 28 (Reuters) – Sudan should set up an independent court to try people accused of war crimes in the troubled region of Darfur, a senior official said on Thursday.

A special judge, sits in court in Nyala Sept 30, 2004 to try six Sudanese men accused of belonging to the Janjaweed, who killed 24 people in the southern Darfur region in Oct 2003.(Reuters).

The comments of Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin were the first indication that Khartoum may start cooperating with a U.N. resolution on bringing people suspected of war crimes in the vast western region to justice.

Last month’s Security Council resolution referred Darfur war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. But it also left the door open for Sudan to hold its own trials provided these were credible, saying the ICC should encourage such domestic efforts.

Sudanese officials have rejected the possibility of the country’s citizens being tried in a foreign court.

Yassin said he would propose to the government at a meeting on Saturday that Sudan conduct credible and independent investigations, working alongside the ICC’s chief prosecutor.

“I’m suggesting that we appoint an independent court from experienced judges, some from outside the judiciary and some from within,” he said. “That will be an independent court to try people accused of crimes in Darfur.”

“I also think an independent prosecutor should be appointed — an impartial, independent and experienced Sudanese, who can do his job as a counterpart to the prosecutor-general of the ICC,” he added.

Rebels took up arms more than two years ago in Darfur accusing the central government of neglect and of giving Arab tribes preferential treatment over non-Arabs in the arid region.

More than 2 million people have since fled their homes to makeshift camps, creating a humanitarian crisis.

The United States said last year the Darfur violence, in which tens of thousands have been killed, was genocide and held the government and allied Arab militias responsible.

Yassin is the head of a committee which has been studying the U.N. resolution. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said he thought his proposal would be adopted by the government.

The Rome Statute which created the ICC says that suspects tried in credible and just proceedings in their own country cannot be tried again at the Hague-based tribunal.

But legal experts say it would be hard for the government to convince the ICC that Sudan could hold such trials.

“If they try officials and happen to find them innocent, I think they will still be sent to the ICC,” said one U.N. source.

A U.N.-appointed commission, which said heinous war crimes had likely taken place in Darfur, said in January that the Sudanese justice system had been significantly weakened and it did not believe it was capable of trying war crimes suspects.

It gave a sealed list of 51 suspects including senior government and military officials, militia and rebel leaders and foreign army officers, to the United Nations. The list is now with the ICC.