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OTP Situations and Cases
162
Kushayb, a senior Janjaweed commander, was arrested
by the Government of Sudan in 2007 and re-arrested
in 2008. However, he was released on both occasions,
never turned over to the ICC, and remains at large.
Harun was the Minister of State for the Interior
until 2006, when he was appointed Sudan’s Minister
of State for Humanitarian Affairs. On 7 May 2009,
President Al’Bashir appointed him Governor of the
South Kordofan province. South Kordofan is a key
strategic and oil-rich province located in the centre of
Sudan, bordering both Darfur and Abyei, and disputed
between north and south Sudan.
According to the Prosecutor’s report to the UN Security
Council on the Situation in Darfur, on 11 January
and 7 March 2011, despite the outstanding ICC
Arrest Warrant against him, Harun was reportedly
transported by the UN to attend a meeting in Abyei
to prevent further escalation of tensions between the
different ethnic groups on the north-south border
region of South Kordofan. 704 UN spokesman Martin
Nesirky defended the decision to transport Harun
without arresting him: ‘As you know, there have been
clashes in Abyei, and these clashes were actually
threatening to escalate into a wider war. And so
Governor [Harun] was critical to bringing the Misseria
leaders in southern Kordofan to a peace meeting
in Abyei to stop further clashes and killings.’ 705 The
French Government protested against the decision.
During a UN Security Council Meeting on Sudan on
8 June 2011, the Prosecutor reiterated his concerns
regarding the Situation in Darfur and Harun’s
continued position as Governor of South Kordofan. 706
He also recalled Harun’s use of local militia in the
1990s to attack civilians in the Nuba province, and
his role in coordinating attacks against civilians while
holding office as Minister of State for the Interior
between 2003 and 2005.
704 <strong>Report</strong> by the Prosecutor to the UNSC, 8 June 2011; See
also ‘France protests to the UN over transporting of
Sudanese war crime suspect’, Sudan Tribune, 24 January
2011, available at , last visited on
26 October 2011.
705 ‘France protests to the UN over transporting of
Sudanese war crime suspect’, Sudan Tribune, 24 January
2011, available at , last visited on
26 October 2011.
706 ‘The President of Sudan has learned to defy Security
Council, says Chief Prosecutor, stressing that genocide,
crimes against humanity “continue unabated” in Darfur’,
Reliefweb, 8 June 2011, available at , last visited 26 October 2011.
Violence broke out in South Kordofan in June 2011,
after the delayed elections for Governor and State
Assembly in the state of South Kordofan, of which
Harun as the National Congress Party (NCP) candidate
was declared the winner on 15 May 2011. 707 The
main opposition party, the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation
Movement (SPLM), claimed that the NCP and the
National Electoral Commission had committed
fraud. 708 The SPLM stated that it would not accept
the election results and would not take part in the
elected government. The fighting occurred between
Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF) and Sudan Peoples’
Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N), with both
parties allegedly committing crimes. The SAF is alleged
to have committed crimes on a large scale, including
aerial bombings, attacks on civilians, arbitrary arrests
and detentions, looting and destruction of property,
and persecution of residents and SPLM-N members.
These human rights violations in South Kordofan
and Blue Nile States resulted in the displacement of
thousands of persons.
In August 2011, a report published by the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
found that the human rights violations occurred
in South Kordofan in June 2011, and if they can be
substantiated, amount to crimes against humanity
and war crimes. 709 On 23 August 2011, President
Al’Bashir announced a unilateral ceasefire in South
Kordofan. 710 Despite the ceasefire, violence such as
707 ‘Continuing Violations of Human Rights in South
Kordofan and Blue Nile States: 24 August – 8 September
2011’, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, p
1, available at , last visited on 26 October 2011.
708 In 2005, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between
the Government of Sudan and the SPLM had been
concluded.
709 ‘Thirteenth periodic report of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation
of human rights in the Sudan: Preliminary report
on violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law in Southern Kordofan from 5 to 30
June 2011’, Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, August 2011, paras 57, 58, available at , last visited on 26 October 2011.
710 Continuing Violations of Human Rights in South
Kordofan and Blue Nile States: 24 August – 8 September
2011’, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, p
4, available at , last visited on 26 October 2011.