The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of the Sudanese defence minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussain.
Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has requested the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur from 2003 to 2004.
In a statement released on Friday, Mr Ocampo’s office said Mr Hussein was one of the individuals to "bear greatest criminal responsibility" for atrocities in Darfur.
Mr Hussain was Minster for the Interior at the time, with all responsibilities and powers of President Bashir.
Some of his responsibilities at the time were delegated to Minister of the State for the Interior, Ahmed Harun, who already has an ICC arrest warrant outstanding.
“[...] the evidence shows that directly and through Mr. Harun, Mr. Hussein played a central role in coordinating the crimes, including in recruiting, mobilizing, funding, arming, training and the deployment of the Militia/Janjaweed as part of the Government of the Sudan forces, with the knowledge that these forces would commit the crimes,” said the Prosecutor.
According to the statement the attacks on villages and towns in West Darfur followed a common pattern:
“The Government of Sudan forces surrounded the villages, the Air Force dropped bombs indiscriminately and foot soldiers, including Militia/Janjaweed, killed, raped and looted the entire village, forcing the displacement of 4 million inhabitants.
"Currently, 2.5 million remain in camps for Internally Displaced Persons.”
The UN estimates up to 300,000 civilians have died in the conflict.
Several arrest warrants have been issued against Sudanese officials by the ICC, including a warrant against President Omar Al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, but no arrests have yet been made.
