ICC prosecutor warmly welcomed by marginalised IDPs in Darfur
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA)-In an unprecedented visit of its kind, the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda, set a foot inside the largest camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Sudan's Darfur region.
Ms. Bensouda is currently touring Darfur, the scene of tragic human suffering that, according to the UN, left over 300,000 dead and over three million displaced in their homeland or in neighbouring Chad, most of them since 2003, with a generation of children born and now entering university from this camp.
Raising banners of “welcome, welcome ICC”, “Bashir to ICC, Haroun to ICC and Koshaib to ICC” the displaced persons received the prosecutor, the official Sudanese News Agency (SUNA), reported from Nyala, capital of South Darfur state, bordering Central African Republic.
Known as the largest home to internally displaced persons in Darfur, the camp hosts over 100,000 IDPs, according to the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC).
Bensouda’s visit aimed at “directly meeting with the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against civilians in the region,” the agency reported.
At Nyala, the ICC Prosecutor first met with leaders of the IDPs, to arrange trip to the camp which is fully controlled by the IDPs and behind them the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army led by Abdul Wahid.
Wahid spurred the rebellion in Darfur in 2003 and still is not part of the peace agreement signed last year. He is not taking part in the ongoing peace talks in Juba, South Sudan. The man has great influence among the IDPs, especially in Kalma camp, which Bensouda visited on Monday.
While there, she met with representatives of the IDPs. The camp houses 100,000 persons, led by the coordinator general of IDPs and refugees camps, Yagoub Mohamed Abdalla.
Besides addressing the camp residents, Bensouda visited mass graves at the camp.
According to Radio Dabanga, Bensouda has said her office remains firmly committed to the “the pursuit of justice for atrocity crimes in Darfur. Your continued support is crucial to that common goal”.
She also expressed her “most sincere admiration” for the Darfuris and their courage, resilience, and quest for justice, the radio reported on Tuesday
She affirmed at meetings with government and people’s leaderships during the visit to South Darfur State that her current tour aims at affirming the arrival of ICC investigators shortly to look into all cases of human rights violations and to discuss with the government implementation of the arrest warrants that had been issued by the ICC.
The IDPs representative, Yagoub Mohamed Abdalla, demanded “the handing over of all perpetrators of the war crimes and crimes against humanity to the ICC, top of them deposed president Omer Al-Bashir, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein and Ahmed Haroum to face justice.”
-0- PANA MO/AR 1June2021
