THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Sudan has promised to hand over ex-President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to face genocide and war crimes charges, BBC has reported.
The new transitional government was reported to have agreed to hand over all actors in the war wanted by the ICC during peace talks with Darfur groups.
“Justice cannot be achieved if we don’t heal the wounds,” said Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a spokesman for the Sudanese government, was quoted as saying. He told the BBC that al-Bashir and three others would be handed over to the ICC.
Millions of people in the country would be happy if the former brutal dictator is made to face justice for its many crimes.
Al-Bashir, who was deposed in a coup d’état in April last year, is accused of crimes against humanity in the conflict in Darfur that broke out in 2003 and has led to the deaths of more than 300,000. About 2.5 million people out of a total population of 6.2 million have been displaced from their homes and into displacement camps by the war that pitches African self-determination groups in the eastern region against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.
However, top military members of the current government are said to have participated in the war in Dafur and are complicit in the crimes committed there. This is why analysts doubt if the government would hand over al-Bashir, whose 30-year rule witnessed many wars in the vast country.
South Sudan separated from Sudan in 2011 after an internationally supervised referendum, bringing to an end the armed struggle waged by the South Sudanese for an independent nation that lasted more than 50 years and cost millions of lives.
In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting president to be indicted by the ICC, for directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. Sudan, supported by the African Union and regional leaders, rejected the indictment.
From December 2018 onwards, al-Bashir faced large-scale protests which demanded his removal from power. On 11 April 2019, Bashir was ousted in a military coup d’état and was convicted of corruption in December 2019 and sentenced to two years in a prison for the elderly.
Adira Kallo
