THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The Sudanese defense minister is wanted for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the genocide in Darfur, the ICC said Friday.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, called for an arrest warrant against Sudanese Defense Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein from crimes committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004.
The ICC said it had evidence suggesting the defense minister bears "the greatest criminal responsibility" for crimes in Darfur.
"The evidence shows that this was a state policy supervised by Mr. Hussein to ensure the coordination of attacks against civilians," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement.
The court had said Khartoum could have taken steps to disarm militias and offered Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb and Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Harun to the ICC but the Sudanese president chose to do nothing. The court said Hussein delegated responsibilities to Huran, who was appointed to the so-called Darfur Security Desk.
This is the fourth ICC case regarding Darfur. Sudanese President Omar Bashir is among those wanted for war crimes in connected with the genocide.
"The prosecutor considered that Mr. Hussein should be arrested in order to prevent him from continuing with the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court," the court said in a statement.
Khartoum isn't party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC.
