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A Sudanese militia leader has been found guilty of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity more than 20 years ago in the Darfur region.<\/p>\n
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, led the Janjaweed, a government-backed group that terrorised Darfur, killing hundreds of thousands of people.<\/p>\n
Kushayb is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the atrocities in Darfur. He had argued it was a case of mistaken identity.<\/p>\n
The conflict lasted from 2003 to 2020 and was one of the world’s gravest humanitarian disasters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Five years after the end of that crisis, Darfur is a key battleground in another civil war, this time between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whose origins lie in the Janjaweed.<\/p>\n
During Kushayb’s trial, survivors described how their villages were burned down, men and boys slaughtered and women forced into sex slavery.<\/p>\n
The militia leader was found guilty on 27 counts, centring on attacks committed between 2003 and 2004.<\/p>\n
Judges at the ICC found the Janjaweed’s brutal tactics – including mass executions, sexual violence and torture – were often inflicted by Kushayb and his men.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the verdict, a small group of Darfuris waited patiently to enter the court, in the Dutch city of The Hague.<\/p>\n
They were in no doubt about the pivotal role Kushayb played in their suffering, with one man saying: “He was the one who gave the orders. He was the one who got the weapons. <\/p>\n
“So if you ask me if he was important in Darfur, I will you tell you he was one of the most important ones.”<\/p>\n
The Darfur war began after the Arab-dominated government at the time armed the Janjaweed, in an attempt to suppress an uprising by rebels from black African ethnic groups. <\/p>\n
The Janjaweed systematically attacked non-Arab villagers accused of supporting the rebels, leading to accusations of genocide.<\/p>\n
That same systematic violence is still happening in Darfur as part of the Sudan’s civil war.<\/p>\n
Many of the Janjaweed fighters have morphed into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that is currently battling Sudan’s army.<\/p>\n
The UK, US and rights groups have accused the RSF of carrying out ethnic cleansing against non-Arab communities in Darfur since the conflict began in 2023.<\/p>\n
Kushayb will be sentenced at a later date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n