International Criminal Court Arrests in Darfur

Finally, there is positive action taken on the genocide in Darfur. Today, the International Criminal Court has issued warrants for arrests of two who are alleged to have committed criminal acts against the black inhabitants of Darfur. The U.S., of course, has refused to recognize the ICC. Their work against war criminality is certainly to be feared by the members of an administration busily committing war crimes.

The arrest warrants were issued at the request of the United Nations made in 2005, and include a member of the inner circle in Sudan and a leader of the janjaweed.

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.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo hailed the move as "a big and important step ahead".

"These two will have to face justice, they will be in the dock, in two months or two years ... they know that," he told AFP Wednesday.

Moreno-Ocampo focused his 20-month investigation on events alleged to have occurred between 2003 and 2004, the most violent period in the crisis.

The Arab Janjaweed, armed and backed by the Sudanese government, are accused of the worst violence, involving attacks on civilians of black African origin following a rebellion against Khartoum.

This is the first real action to be taken by the international community in prosecuting war crimes. The Sudanese government has only recently allowed peacekeeping forces from the U.N. into the country to help protect the civilians being murdered and driven from their homes. Its cooperation with these arrest warrants will most likely not be had, but it is necessary for the U.N. to try to end the criminal acts there.