International court issues first Darfur arrest warrants

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

International court issues first Darfur arrest warrants

by Stephanie van den Berg
1 hour, 40 minutes ago

THE HAGUE (AFP) - The International Criminal Court (ICC)
has issued its first arrest warrants over the Darfur conflict
for a Sudanese minister and a Janjaweed militia leader
accused of murder, torture and rape.

In documents released Wednesday the judges said there
were "reasonable grounds" to conclude that Ahmed
Haroun, Sudan's secretary of state for humanitarian
affairs and a former minister in charge of Darfur, and
Ali Kosheib, a principal leader of the Khartoum-backed
Janjaweed, were "criminally responsible" for war crimes
and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.

Khartoum was quick to reject the warrants, saying the
court had no jurisdiction in the matter.

The ICC arrest warrants, dated April 27, charge Haroun
and Kosheib with a long list of 51 counts including
murder, torture, mass rape and the forced displacement
of entire villages during a series of attacks in western
Darfur in 2003 and 2004.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070502/wl_africa_afp/sudandarfurunresticc