4 March 2009: The International Criminal Court indict Omar al-Bashir for atrocities in Darfur
On 4 March 2009, an arrest warrant was issued for the then President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on five charges of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes for his role in the genocide in Darfur.
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
The accusations relate to the ongoing armed murder, marginalisation and displacement of Darfur’s non-Arab population since February 2003. Attacks were carried out by Arab militia the Janjaweed, otherwise known as the Devils on Horseback. They rode into remote villages inhabited by black Africans to murder those living there, rape the women and steal whatever they could find. Refugees in Darfur have said that the government supported the raids with air attacks, yet authorities deny that there are any links between themselves and the Janjaweed.
Al-Bashir was indicted for murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape, as well as pillaging and purposefully directing attacks on civilian populations. It would not be, however, until a year later in 2010 that he would come to be accused for three counts of genocide with a second arrest warrant from the Hague.
Bashir has not yet been held accountable for the atrocities he has committed. The genocide resulted in the murder of approximately 200,000 people, although estimates vary and this figure could be much higher. International peacekeepers, aid agencies and the media have struggled to keep accurate records or find accurate information. Around 2.5 million people were displaced during the genocide. They were forced to flee their homes to makeshift refugee camps in Darfur and Chad run by international aid agencies.
