Sudan agrees to turn over ex-president to International Criminal Court

Sudan’s transitional government will hand over former president Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution on war crimes charges, including allegedly allowing killings in the Darfur region that began in 2003.

Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi of the government’s Sovereign Council said it has reached an agreement with rebel groups in Darfur to turn over Sudanese figures wanted by the ICC. Although he did not mention al-Bashir by name, the ICC has issued two arrest warrants for the ex-president, who was deposed by the military last April, The Associated Press reported.

He did not offer a timeline for the transfer of al-Bashir and other suspects, which would first require the transitional government to ratify the ICC’s Rome Statute.

Al-Bashir’s government responded to a 2003 uprising with a bombing campaign and by arming members of the Janjaweed militia. The resulting campaign is believed to have killed up to 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million.

The ICC has also indicted Abdel-Rahim Muhammad Hussein, who served as interior minister from 1993 to 2005 and defense minister from 2005 to 2015, and Ahmed Haroun, who served as a senior security official and who al-Bashir named last month as head of the ruling National Congress Party.