FIDH and the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), FIDH member organisation from Sudan, welcome this appearance, that follows the first voluntary appearance in May 2009 of Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, another Sudanese rebel commander, for war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur.
“All victims of international crimes committed in Darfur must obtain justice”, said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President. “We however urge the government of Sudan and all other States to cooperate with the ICC by executing the three outstanding arrest warrants for President Al Bashir, Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb, thus complying with their international obligations and ensuring that victims in Darfur have access to truth and justice”.
“Jerbo”, a 35-year old leader of the Sudanese Liberation Movement Army (SLA/M) that broke into the SLA-Unity, and “Banda”, a mid-40 year old military commander of the (JEM) as of May 2006, who allegedly joined forces in October 2007 to form the JEM Collective Leadership (JEM-CL), were summoned to appear on 27 August 2009. They are charged with three counts of war crimes: violence to life (Article 8(2)(c)(i) of the Rome Statute), international attacks (Article 8(2)(e)(iii)) and pillaging (Article 8(2)(e)(v)).
Background
On 20 November 2008, the ICC Prosecutor submitted a sealed case against three unidentified rebel commanders believed to be behind the raid on the Haskanita military base at which twelve African Union peacekeepers were killed, and an additional eight injured. [1]
One of these Sudanese rebel commanders, Bahar Idriss Abu Garda (“Abu Garda”), appeared voluntarily before the ICC in May 2009 for war crimes allegedly committed during this attack [2]. His confirmation of charges hearing took place from 18 to 29 October 2009. On 8 February 2010, Pre-Trial Chamber I declined to confirm charges against him, because there was not sufficient evidence on his indictment.
The names of the two other rebel commanders, Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (“Banda”) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (“Jerbo”), remained undisclosed until the 16 June 2010.
This is the fourth case of the Prosecutor in Darfur, a situation he has been investigating since June 2005 after a United Nations Security Council referral, by Resolution 1593 adopted on 31 March 2005.