The International Criminal Court announced on Sunday that the leader of the Darfur United Resistance Front will appear in Court on Monday. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda is suspected of having committed war crimes in an attack against peacekeepers from the African Union Mission in Sudan in 2007.
Bahar Idriss Abu Garda is due to face trial on charges of having “attacked and killed 12 peacekeepers, injured a few other peacekeepers and looted the AU base” in what came to be known as the Haskanita attack that allegedly involved two splinter armed opposition groups.
Bahar Idriss Abu Garda is the latest suspect to be sought by the Court in relation to the situation in Darfur, Sudan.
Since the opening of the investigation into the situation in Darfur in June 2005, the Court has publicly issued three other arrest warrants. These have been issued against the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Mohammed Haroun, Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, and Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir.
Bahar Idriss Abu Garda will be the first Sudanese suspect to appear in front of the Court, having agreed to voluntarily appear in court in response to a summons.
“Amnesty International hopes that Bahar Idriss Abu Garda´s appearance before the Court voluntarily will contribute towards the end of impunity in Darfur,” said Tawanda Hondora, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme. “The organization calls on all other suspects to surrender themselves to the Court and on the government of Sudan to fully cooperate with the Court by arresting and surrendering anyone named in an arrest warrant.”