Sudan to Try 162 over Darfur Crimes
14/06/2005| IslamWeb
Sudan's Justice Minister Ali Mohammed Yassin has confirmed that 162 suspects will appear before a special Sudanese court set up to try alleged Darfur war criminals.
Sudanese officials said the special court would open on Tuesday, after Khartoum criticised international attempts to investigate atrocities in the troubled region.
A five-member prosecution team from the attorney-general's office has been formed, Yassin said.
He added that the team would represent the prosecution on all charges filed by investigators of crimes allegedly committed in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan.
However, the minister declined to tell Aljazeera whether any Sudanese officials were among the suspects to be tried.
Nor did he reveal the identities of the suspects, except that 92 hailed from South Darfur state, 38 from North Darfur and 32 from West Darfur.
"The court will be an alternative to the International Criminal Court (ICC)," said the justice minister, adding that Sudan had prepared a letter for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on procedures leading to the establishment of the court.
The announcement comes a week after the ICC said it had launched an inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.
Reaction
One human rights group reacted to the announcement with scepticism.
Amnesty International says the Sudanese court lacks credibility unless Khartoum carries out "serious legal reforms ensuring independence of the judiciary".
"We fear that the establishment of the special court may just be a tactic by the Sudanese government to avoid prosecution" by the ICC, said Kolawole Olaniyan, the director of Amnesty's Africa programme. "On the one hand, the Sudanese government is claiming that it is able to punish the crimes it is accused of condoning for the last two years," he said in a statement.
"On the other hand, it continues to crack down on those who expose or criticise such human rights violations."
ICC comment
Khartoum argued last week that its judiciary was competent to "carry out justice" and that a Darfur-based court would try cases of "violation of honour, murder and looting or property crimes committed in Darfur".
The special court's chairman, Judge Mahmoud Saeed Abkam, denied any relationship between the Sudanese tribunal and The Hague-based ICC.
Between 180,000 and 300,000 people have been killed and 2.4 million made homeless in Darfur since an uprising in early 2003, after which Khartoum is alleged to have backed nomadic tribes to carry out a scorched-earth campaign.
Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir vowed in April never to hand over any Sudanese national to international jurisdiction.
AU mediation
Meanwhile, African Union (AU) mediators in Abuja held separate bilateral talks with Sudan's government and representatives of the two main rebel groups in an effort to find lasting peace in the civil war.
The latest round of talks between Khartoum and representatives of two rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - resumed on Friday after a six-month break.
Discussions began early on Monday on a declaration of principle that was adopted in December when talks were suspended after mutual accusations of ceasefire violations.
In a statement after the meetings, the AU mediating team led by special envoy for the peace talks on Darfur, Salim Ahmad Salim, said "these consultations gave the parties an opportunity to make comments, observations and suggestions on the draft declaration of principle".
"The representatives of JEM and the government of the Sudan later submitted their comments in writing. The SLM however requested more time to finalize their submission," it said.
PHOTO CAPTION