Darfur war: the ICC examines the role of the Janjawids
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Eva Plevier/File Photo
Text by: Stéphanie Maupas Follow
5 mins
The trial of Ali Mohammed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman is due to begin on April 5 before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The former Janjawid militia leader faces 31 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between 2003 and 2004 in Darfur.
The power of ex-president Omar al-Bashir has always denied links with the militiamen recruited from the ranks of Arab tribes.
The prosecutor intends to prove the contrary.
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From our correspondent in The Hague
,
In certain drawings by the children of Darfur, the Janjawid militiamen appear harnessed with machine guns, rushing towards the villages on large galloping horses.
Among these men
was Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman
.
He was a Janjawid leader in West Darfur in 2003 and 2004.
To prove the militiaman's guilt in the crimes committed during the attacks on the villages of Bindisi, Kodoom, Deleig, and on the districts of Mukjar and Wadi Salih, in West Darfur, the prosecutor will have to dismantle the cogs of the counter-insurgency launched by the Sudanese government in 2003 to put down a rebellion.
During the trial, which begins on April 5 and is expected to last nearly three years, he will have to demonstrate the existence of links between the Khartoum government and the militiamen from Arab tribes.
For the prosecution, the murders, rapes, tortures, attacks against civilians, looting, forced population transfers are the result of "
a state policy
" and "
a criminal plan
established by the Sudanese government in Khartoum.
The Janjawids, partners in Khartoum's criminal plan
This plan would have been established by the National Security Council, the supreme body in charge of strategic decisions of power.
The urgency, for Khartoum, is then to put down the rebellion led by the Sudan Liberation Movement Armed (SML-A) and the Movement for Justice and Equality (JEM), following the attack of the attack from el-Fasher airport on April 25, 2003. According to the prosecution, which relies on testimonies, reports and documents from the Sudanese government itself, the plan involves recruiting from Arab tribes to carry out counterinsurgency.
At the time, the country's security organs, such as the People's Defense Forces (PDF), were considered unreliable, "
because the majority
[of its members]
came from Darfur
".
As for the police and the reserve forces, they are not numerous enough.
The government then decided to "
use the members of the Arab tribes
" against those accused of supporting the rebellion.
In December 2003, writes the prosecutor in his pre-trial brief, the Minister of Defense and the National Security Council decided to create “
a semi-regular force of Arab tribes
”.
He must arm the Janjaweed, train them, integrate them into the armed forces and assassinate "
rebel leaders and sympathizers among community leaders and local administrative officials
".
Khartoum dreams of imposing “
control over all the villages and regions to which the rebel leaders
(Four, Zaghawa and Masalit) belong”.
To implement this plan, government officials travel to West Darfur and campaign: planning meetings are held, followed by public rallies.
In August 2003, Ahmed Harun, then deputy interior minister, now wanted by the ICC, reportedly told the accused: “
I don't want you to leave a human or a single tree.
Burn everything
”.
The government official also urges the militiamen to "
clean up the area
".
Still according to the prosecution, Abd-Al-Rahman allegedly, during another meeting, harangued the crowd in these terms: “
We will destroy the villages and clean up the area.
We will exterminate the Ovens
“, one of the three ethnic groups, with the Masalit and the Zaghawas, targeted by the regime of Omar el-Bashir.
The former president is now imprisoned in Khartoum.
The ICC is still asking for the execution of an arrest warrant issued against him in 2009.
Funding the Janjawid
The Janjaweed are trained in several camps in the region.
The men get government uniforms, vehicles, ID cards, weapons, ammunition, horse food, satellite phones, etc.
Families are compensated when their loved ones are killed in action.
The prosecutor's office also assures that the salaries of the militiamen were transferred every month from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior.
"
Millet and Silver
"
were sometimes
"
disbursed through the regional offices of Zakat
[an Islamic charitable tax]
and the West Darfur Herders
' Association."
The Janjawid were also allowed to loot and keep the spoils of war seized during the attacks.
The government of Sudan "
delivered weapons by air
" just before the military operations, the prosecution's brief reads.
In Mukjar, Deleig, Bindisi, Kodoom and Wadi Salih, over an area of 1,400 km², hundreds of civilians were murdered, numerous rapes perpetrated and thousands of displaced people fled the attacks.
According to the UN, the Darfur conflict has left 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced.
Facing the judges of the International Criminal Court, the 72-year-old man denies.
He "
never participated in the counter-insurgency
,"
wrote his lawyer, Cyril Laucci, in a memorandum filed with the Court.
“
He is a simple Sudanese citizen from the Ta'aisha tribe who ran a pharmacy in Garsila in 2003 before joining a police reserve training center in 2004
”.
He also refutes his nom de guerre, Ali Kushayb.
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