Childhood
| War in Darfur |
|---|
 |
| 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 ever 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 |
|---|
| |
| 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 ever 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. JEM's political agenda includes issues such as: radical and comprehensive constitutional reform to grant Sudan's regions a greater share of power in ruling the country, the replacement of social injustice and political tyranny with justice and equality, and basic services for every Sudanese.
The Chadian Civil War of 2005–2010 began on December 18, 2005. Since its independence from France in 1960, Chad has been swamped by civil wars between the Arab-Muslims of the north and the Sub-Saharan-Christians of the south. As a result, leadership and presidency in Chad drifted back and forth between the Christian southerners and Muslim northerners. When one side was in power, the other side usually started a revolutionary war to counter it.
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict (1999–2007). Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations, including ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.
The International Criminal Court has opened investigations in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Darfur in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Libya, Uganda, Bangladesh/Myanmar, Palestine, the Philippines, and Venezuela. Additionally, the Office of the Prosecutor conducted preliminary examinations in situations in Bolivia, Colombia, Guinea, Iraq / the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Georgia, Honduras, South Korea, Ukraine and Venezuela. Preliminary investigations were closed in Gabon; Honduras; registered vessels of Comoros, Greece, and Cambodia; South Korea; and Colombia on events since 1 July 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.
While there is a consensus in the international community that ethnic groups have been targeted in Darfur and that crimes against humanity have therefore occurred, there has been debate in some quarters about whether genocide has taken place there. In May 2006, the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur organized by United Nations "concluded that the Government of the Sudan has not pursued a policy of genocide ... [though] international offences such as the crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been committed in Darfur may be more serious and heinous than genocide." Eric Reeves, a researcher and frequent commentator on Darfur, has questioned the methodology of the commission's report.
Ahmed Mohammed Haroun is one of five Sudanese men wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Despite international pressure on the government of Sudan to surrender him to the ICC, Haroun served as Sudan's Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs until May 2009, when he was appointed to the governorship of South Kordofan. In September 2007, he was appointed to lead an investigation into human rights violations in Darfur. In July 2013 he resigned as Governor of South Kordofan, and was reappointed by Omar al-Bashir as Governor of North Kordofan. On 1 March 2019, President Omar al-Bashir handed over the running of the country's leading political party, the National Congress, to him. He was arrested in April 2019 by local authorities in Sudan following a coup which overthrew al-Bashir.
Karim Asad Ahmad Khan is a British lawyer specialising in international criminal law and international human rights law, who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021.
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.
Germain Katanga, also known as Simba, is a former leader of the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI), an armed group in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On 17 October 2007, the Congolese authorities surrendered him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stand trial on six counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity. The charges include murder, sexual slavery, rape, destruction of property, pillaging, willful killing, and directing crimes against civilians.
The International Criminal Court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, provides that individuals or organizations may submit information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. These submissions are referred to as "communications to the International Criminal Court".
Luis Moreno Ocampo is an Argentine lawyer who served as the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2003 to 2012. Previously, he had played a major role in Argentina's democratic transition (1983–1991).
The International Criminal Court investigation in Kenya or the situation in the Republic of Kenya was an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the responsibility for the 2007–2008 post-election violence in Kenya. The 2007–2008 crisis followed the presidential election that was held on 27 December 2007. The Electoral Commission of Kenya officially declared that the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was re-elected however supporters of the opposition candidate Raila Odinga accused the government of electoral fraud and rejected the results. A series of protests and demonstrations followed, and fighting—mainly along tribal lines—led to an estimated 1,200 deaths and more than 500,000 people becoming internally displaced.
Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain, commonly referred to as Abdallah Banda, was the Commander-in-Chief of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Collective-Leadership, one of the components of the United Resistance Front. As of June 2019, he is wanted for trial before the International Criminal Court for three counts of war crimes allegedly committed during the Haskanita raids against African Union peacekeepers within the context of the Darfur conflict in Sudan.
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.
The International Criminal Court investigation in Darfur or the situation in Darfur is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into criminal acts committed during the War in Darfur. Although Sudan is not a state party to the Rome Statute, the treaty which created the ICC, the situation in Darfur was referred to the ICC's Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council in 2005. As of June 2019, five suspects remained under indictment by the court: Ahmed Haroun, Ali Kushayb, Omar al-Bashir, Abdallah Banda and Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein. Charges against Bahar Abu Garda were dropped on the basis of insufficient evidence in 2010 and those against Saleh Jerbo were dropped following his death in 2013. In mid-April 2019, Haroun, al-Bashir and Hussein were imprisoned in Sudan as a result of the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. In early November 2019, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok stated that al-Bashir would be transferred to the ICC. One of the demands of the displaced people of Darfur visited by Hamdok prior to Hamdok's statement was that "Omar Al Bashir and the other wanted persons" had to be surrendered to the ICC.
The Darfur genocide is the systematic killing of ethnic Darfuri people which has occurred during the ongoing conflict in western Sudan. It has become known as the first genocide of the 21st century. The genocide, which is being carried out against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, has led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict several people for crimes against humanity, rape, forced transfer and torture. An estimated 200,000 people were killed between 2003 and 2005.