International Criminal Court issues Darfur arrest warrants

Arrest warrants for a Sudanese government minister and a janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur, have been issued by the International Criminal Court.

The warrants issued in The Netherlands, were a crucial step toward bringing atrocities in the Sudanese province before a panel of international judges in The Hague.

However, Sudanese authorities have in the past refused to arrest and turn over suspects to the court and it was unclear whether either suspect would surrender.

"The judges have issued arrest warrants. As the territorial state, the government of the Sudan has a legal duty to arrest Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb," Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement. "This is the International Criminal Court's decision, and the government has to respect it."

In February, Moreno-Ocampo named Harun, Sudan's minister for humanitarian affairs, and Kushayb, a janjaweed militia leader, as suspects in a total of 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including the murder, rape, torture and persecution of civilians in Darfur.

Moreno-Ocampo said the issuing of warrants underscored the strength of his case.

Harun is currently in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi has said the Sudanese authorities conducted their own investigation into Harun's activities and found "not a speck of evidence" against him.

The Sudanese government says it has arrested Kushayb pending an internal investigation, but several witnesses in Darfur said he was freely travelling from one Darfur town to another under police protection.

The atrocities allegedly were committed during attacks on four towns and villages in West Darfur between August 2003 and March 2004. Harun and Kushayb were part of conspiracy to "persecute civilians they associated with rebels," Moreno-Ocampo alleged following a 20-month investigation ordered by the UN Security Council in 2005.

Fighting in Darfur has left more than 200,000 dead and displaced 2.5 million in a campaign the US has called genocide.

The conflict erupted in February 2003 when ethnic African tribesmen took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Khartoum government. Sudan is accused of retaliating by unleashing the janjaweed to put down the rebels using a campaign of murder, rape, mutilation and plunder.

Although Sudan does not recognise the court's jurisdiction, the 2005 UN Security Council resolution that triggered the Darfur investigation calls on Khartoum and all other groups in the conflict to co-operate fully with the court and the prosecutor.