Childhood
| War in Darfur |
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| Combatants |
| Other articles |
Abu Garda was born in Nana, North Darfur, Sudan, and is a member of the Zaghawa tribe. [1]
Bahr Idriss Abu Gard | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1963 [1] |
| Nationality | Sudanese |
| Education | Economy |
| Occupation | Minister of Health 2011 |
| Known for | Indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes |
Bahr Idriss Abu Garda (born 1 January 1963) [1] is the leader of the United Resistance Front, a rebel group fighting against the Sudanese government in Darfur. [2] He is a former commander of the Justice and Equality Movement. [3] [4]
Abu Garda was summonsed to appear before the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes relating to a 2007 attack in which twelve African Union peacekeepers were killed. [3] He is the first person to appear voluntarily before the ICC, and the first person to appear before the court in connection with the war in Darfur. He denied the allegations against him: "I am looking forward to clear my name from this case because I am sure ... that absolutely I am not guilty". [5] The hearing to confirm the charges against him was held from 19 to 29 October 2009, ending in a decision by the judges not to confirm the charges and a rejection 23 April 2010 of an appeal by the Prosecutor. [6]
| War in Darfur |
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| |
| Combatants |
| Other articles |
Abu Garda was born in Nana, North Darfur, Sudan, and is a member of the Zaghawa tribe. [1]
From January 2005 to September 2007, he was vice-president of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), an armed Islamist group which fought against the Sudanese government and pro-government militia groups in Darfur. [4] He split with the JEM and on 4 October 2007 he participated in the formation of a new armed group called the JEM Collective Leadership. [7]
As of May 2009 [update] , he is the leader of the United Resistance Front, another rebel group. [2]
On 20 November 2008, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, presented evidence alleging that Abu Garda and two other rebel commanders were guilty of war crimes in relation to a 2007 operation in which about a thousand rebels surrounded and attacked a camp of African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita, Darfur, killing twelve. [8] [9]
On 7 May 2009, a Pre-Trial Chamber found that there were grounds to believe that Abu Garda was responsible on three counts of war crimes: murder, pillaging, and intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission. [10] The prosecutor submitted that an arrest warrant was unnecessary since Abu Garda had expressed his willingness to appear before the court, so the court issued a summons ordering him to appear before the court on 18 May 2009. [10] Abu Garda flew to The Hague by commercial airliner on 17 May and became the first person to appear voluntarily before the ICC.
Abu Garda denied all the charges against him and claimed to be the victim of a dispute between the URF and the JEM, which has said it helped to collect evidence against him. [3] He said "I am looking forward to clear my name from this case because I am sure ... that absolutely I am not guilty". [5]
After his initial appearance before the court on 18 May 2009, he left the Netherlands to return to his soldiers. [2] [11] The hearing to confirm the charges against him took place from 19 to 29 October 2009, and ended on 8 February and 23 April 2010 with the charges being dropped and the Prosecutor's appeal against this being rejected. [6]
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south; he subsequently replaced President Ahmed al-Mirghani as head of state. He was elected three times as president in elections that have been under scrutiny for electoral fraud. In 1992, al-Bashir founded the National Congress Party, which remained the dominant political party in the country until 2019. In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. On 11 February 2020, the Government of Sudan announced that it had agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC for trial.
The Justice and Equality Movement is an opposition group in Sudan founded by Khalil Ibrahim. Gibril Ibrahim has led the group since January 2012 after the death of Khalil, his brother, in December 2011. The JEM supported the removal of President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir and nation-wide government reform.
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The United States is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which founded the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002.
The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting against the government of Sudan, which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population. The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
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Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, commonly known as Ali Kushayb, is a senior Janjaweed commander who supported the Sudanese government against Darfur rebel groups during the Omar al-Bashir presidency. He was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. He was known as aqid al oqada and was active in Wadi Salih, West Darfur.
The raids on Haskanita were a series of attacks on African Union peacekeepers by rebel groups during the Darfur conflict. The attacks took place on 30 September and early October 2007 near the town of Haskanita in South Darfur. Three rebel commanders were arrested for the attacks on warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.
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Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus, commonly referred to as Saleh Jerbo, was the Chief-of-Staff of the SLA-Unity. He was indicted by the International Criminal Court to be tried, together with Abdallah Banda, for three counts of war crimes allegedly committed during the Raids on Haskanita against African Union peacekeepers within the context of the Darfur conflict in Sudan. The case against him was dropped without prejudice after his apparent death on 19 April 2013.
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