ICC prosecutor arrives in Khartoum for talks on Bashir

KHARTOUM – The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum for talks with senior government officials over war crimes committed by former President Omar al Bashir in the restive region of Darfur.

Bensouda who was received at Khartoum airport by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice along with several senior government officials will hold talks with the transitional government officials on ways to bring justice for the victims of crimes committed in Darfur by the former regime of Omer al-Bashir who is indicted with other officials of genocide crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The office of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok which announced the visit said the government in Khartoum is going to cooperate with the visiting prosecutor.

“Today, Saturday, the seventeenth of October, a delegation from the International Criminal Court led by the Prosecutor General, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, will pay an official visit (to Sudan) until the twenty-first of this month, for talks with senior Sudanese officials”.

The visiting delegation will discuss cooperation between Sudan and the International Criminal Court regarding the former officials wanted by the court for Darfur war crimes, further said the statement without naming them.

Last June, Bensoua told the Security Council that all ICC Darfur suspects must be brought to justice through genuine proceedings either in a courtroom in Sudan or at the Court in The Hague.

To this end, pursuant to the principle of complementarity and my mandate as ICC Prosecutor, I reiterate that I welcome dialogue with the Government of Sudan, while reassuring victims of the atrocity crimes committed in Darfur of my steadfast commitment to ensuring that those responsible for atrocities in Darfur ultimately face justice,” she said.

The government and the armed groups agreed that the suspects of Darfur war crimes should be tried by the ICC.

The war crimes court has issued arrest warrants three officials al-Bashir, former interior minister Abdel Raheem Mohamed Hussein, and his deputy Ahmed Haroun. The three are in detention in Khartoum.

The ICC recently requested the court to defer the trial of militia leader Ali Kushayb to June 2021 saying they need more time to conduct further investigations.

The prosecutor office confessed that their investigation has been obstructed by the lack of cooperation of the former regime and now they count on the cooperation of the transitional government to investigate many cases.