Sudan’s civilian government has just agreed to send the country’s former president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, to The Hague. There, he will be charged with war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC). al-Bashir is among those responsible for the 2003 Darfur conflict in western Sudan that killed over 300,000 people.
The Week reports that the Sudanese government and rebel groups from the Darfur region both agreed to hand over al-Bashir during a round of peace talks. “Justice cannot be achieved if we don’t heal the wounds,” said Sudanese government spokesman Mohhamed Hassan Eltaish.
From the BBC:
The Sudanese delegation negotiating with rebels in Darfur has made a key concession to victims of the Darfur conflict by agreeing that all those wanted by the ICC should be transferred to the court in The Hague to stand trial. The surrender of former President Bashir is, in fact, something that Sudan’s top military general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan alluded to at a meeting in December with victims of the conflict.
But there is no guarantee that it will happen – the generals may renege on the deal.
al-Bashir was ousted from power in a coup last year and was sentenced to two years in a social reform facility. According to Reuters, the ex-president has refused to work with the ICC, saying that their charges are part of a Western conspiracy.
