Named

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said today that he is presenting evidence accusing two senior figures in Sudan of crimes against humanity and war crimes linked to the conflict between the Sudanese government and rebel fighters in Darfur.

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he had reasonable grounds to believe that Ahmad Muhammad Harun, a former Sudanese interior minister, and Ali Kushayb, a leader of the pro-government janjaweed militia, bear criminal responsibility in relation to 51 separate crimes. The evidence shows they acted together, and with others, with the common purpose of carrying out attacks against the civilian population of Darfur, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said.

The court’s judges now have the task of assessing whether there are indeed reasonable grounds for the accusations, and if there are, to decide how to proceed, the statement said.

You can almost hear the complaints welling up in Khartoum about how this is all some conspiracy by the West and the US to gain control over Sudan. Never mind the hundreds of thousands of dead bodies strewn all over the Darfur region by your thugs and those condoned by the Sudanese government to commit these atrocities. For the Sudanese government, the real enemy is the West.

The Sudanese government has long claimed that it had nothing to do with the Darfur genocide, and yet links with the government kept popping up. This latest story continues to show the complicity of the Sudanese government in the situation in Darfur.

Some things don't change.