Sudan appoints new prosecutor for Darfur crimes

Sudan’s justice minister Mohamed Bushara Dousa appointed on Tuesday Yasir Ahmed Mohamed as new special prosecutor for Darfur crimes. The new prosecutor is the third to be appointed in this position after his two predecessors who resigned for unknown reasons. Khartoum created this position since 2003 to prove its seriousness to try the perpetrators of crimes allegedly committed in the course of the Sudanese government’s war against armed rebels in western Sudan. But the two prosecutors who occupied the position before have failed to try or bring charges against any individual despite credible reports of atrocities committed during the zenith of the conflict in 2003 and 2004. The judges complain of the judicial immunity granted to the eventual responsible of these crimes but also they are hampered by the lack of appropriate legal dispositions allowing them to prosecute crimes against the humanity and genocide. The new prosecutor told the semi-official SMC he will move to Darfur next week, accompanied by his team to begin their work there. He further said judicial offices will be opened in Darfur five states. Yasir stated that the ministerial decree entrusted him with the prosecution before Darfur special court on crimes committed in the region since 2003 including crimes against humanity and war crimes. The prosecutor’s headquarters will be based in the capital of North Darfur state, El Fasher. In accordance with the Doha Document for peace in Darfur, the government is committed to try all the perpetrators of war crimes and to establish a special court to deal. Sudan’s failure to go after the responsible of Darfur crimes led the UN Security Council in March 2005 to refer the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after a UN commission of inquiry concluded that the Sudanese judiciary was unwilling or unable to carry out credible prosecutions in the war ravaged region. However, the Sudanese government refuses to cooperate with the ICC which indicted the President Omer Al-Bashir , a minister and a state minister as well as a militia leader.