War crime suspect strolls Darfur region

[YankeyMCC]

Source: Boston Globe

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EL FASHER, Sudan -- For a man accused of masterminding massacres, Ahmad Harun seems quite comfortable in the place he allegedly helped destroy.

He strolls around the grassy compound belonging to the local governor in Sudan's deeply troubled Darfur region, embracing Arab tribal leaders, soldiers, and officials who have come to hear the president.

Harun, a tall 42-year-old with high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes, was in charge of the region's security during the height of the violent attacks on farm villages that caused millions to flee their homes in 2003 and 2004. He allegedly recruited, funded, and armed local militias to root out rebels who had attacked the Sudanese Army, sweeping away their home villages, families, and the intricate fabric of Darfur's identity along the way.
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(snip)
The rebels are like fish, Harun told a Sudanese committee that was investigating alleged war crimes in 2004, and, "The villages are like water to fish." The objective, he suggested, was to eliminate the water that harbored the fish.

And yet, three years later, Harun glides unhindered and unapologetic through the parched remains of Darfur. He is the state minister for humanitarian affairs in charge of caring for the very people he is accused of displacing. That he holds such a post says much about the limits of international power to cope with a festering crisis.

In May, the Hague-based International Criminal Court charged him and an Arab militia leader, Ali Mohammad Ali Abdalrahman, better known as Ali Kushayb, with war crimes and crimes against humanity. But Sudan has rejected the arrest warrants, saying that the country is not a signatory to the court and that the charges against Harun are untrue.
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That is not Harun's view. Clad in a khaki safari suit that keeps him cool in the Darfur heat, Harun wears his knowledge of the court's impotence like armor.

"Who gave the ICC this right?" he asks. "It is a matter of politics. It is not an issue of justice."

He denies the allegations that he worked with the militias known as janjaweed to attack civilian villages, and says that he would never go to The Hague to answer the charges. "We are not signatories" to the court, and neither is the United States, he says, jibing an American reporter.

"When you sign, we are going to follow. You go first," he says with a high-pitched guffaw.
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Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/08/19/war_crime_suspect_strolls_darfur_region/

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My bolding.

And once again America sets the example.

[Kagemusha]

1. Yeah, the jerk has every right to single out the US here.

Burns me, but he is nonetheless quite correct.

Having said that, where do these guys get their sense of irony? Humanitarian affairs minister? God.