The International Criminal Court announced today, Tuesday, that the leader of the Janjaweed militia, Ali Kushayb, who is close to the isolated President Omar al-Bashir, has surrendered, and will face charges of war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur since 2003.
"Ali Kushayb has been arrested by the International Criminal Court after he surrendered voluntarily in the Central African Republic based on an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against him on April 27, 2007," she said in a statement.
The court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, thanked the Central African authorities, France, Chad and the Central African Peacekeeping Force (MINUSCA) for "their support and cooperation during the arrest", adding that Kushayb would appear before the judges "as soon as possible".
In Sudan, a senior government source told the French Press Agency, "We were formally notified that Ali Kushayb arrived at the seat of the court in The Hague after he voluntarily surrendered to the Central African government and from there he was handed over to the court and transferred to The Hague."
A government source in the Central African Republic said that Kushayb had been arrested in the northern town of Birao and sent by air to The Hague this morning.
Kushayb was the first Sudanese accused to be extradited to the International Criminal Court. He was born in 1957 and was one of the largest leaders in the ranking of tribal ranks in the Wadi Saleh region, as he was a member of the Popular Defense Forces.
It is believed that he was the "mediator" between the Janjaweed leaders in Wadi Saleh and the Bashir regime. Prosecutors say he led the Janjaweed militia, which led attacks on Darfur villages and committed murders, rape, looting and torture between 2003 and 2004.
It is noteworthy that Kushayb is the fourth accused in the list of the International Criminal Court after al-Bashir, then Minister of Defense Abd al-Rahim Hussein and then Minister of Interior Ahmad Harun, all of whom have been detained in Khartoum since the overthrow of al-Bashir's regime in April 2019.
It is worth noting that Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by pro-government forces in Darfur.