Darfur lawyers discuss ongoing investigations with Sudan’s Attorney General

Representatives of the Darfur Bar Association (DBA) met with Sudan’s Attorney General, Tajelsir El Hibir at the Public Prosecution Office in Khartoum today, in the presence of the head of the investigation committee for extrajudicial killings, Ali Suleiman El Bagouri.

The commission said in a statement on Wednesday that it has taken notice of the Attorney General’s directives to his officials at the Public Prosecution, to publish the names of those against whom criminal arrest warrants were issued and against whom initial evidence was provided in the first Kerending incidents.

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, on January 13 violence was triggered by “a simple crime” when a Masalit tribesman allegedly stabbed a member of an “Arab tribe”* to death near Kerending camp for the displaced in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur. Though the alleged killer was arrested, relatives of the victim sought revenge.

The DBA said at the time that militiamen took advantage of the incident, and attacked El Geneina itself from all directions”. Initially, about 83 people were killed and at least 160 were wounded, however some of the injured later succumbed and the latest casualty numbers reported by the West Darfur Doctors Committee, the number of deaths rose to 163.

El Gezira deaths

In its new statement yesterday, the DBA also indicated that it had discussed with the Attorney General the progress of the investigation into the killing of four students of the University of El Gezira in Dec 2012. Sources told Radio Dabanga at the time that the bodies of four Darfuri students were found in a canal in Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira. Darfuri students had protested earlier in the week demanding to be exempted from tuition fees.

ICC

The commission said that it also took note from the Attorney General that the delegation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) called during its recent visit to Sudan for cooperation only in the case of the accused of Ali Muhammad Ali Abdelrahman (also known as Ali Kushayb), who is currently being tried before the ICC, and that the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the ICC related only to the Abdelrahman case.

The Sudanese government signed a MoA with the International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague in the Netherlands, last week in relation to the trial of Abdelrahman.

Former Janjaweed leader has been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region and is currently held in ICC custody. Earlier this month, the ICC denied an application by Abdelrahman for release on bail pending trial.

* The major tribes in Darfur are the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa. The predominantly nomadic tribes, called Arabs in Sudan, live in the larger part of northern Darfur and the predominantly non-Arab or African sedentary group, mainly composed of peasant farmers, live in the western and southern regions of Darfur.