Africa
Sudan: the army arrests Ahmed Haroun, head of Bashir’s party, wanted by the ICC – sources
Two party officials told Reuters Sudan’s army arrested Ahmed Haroun, president of the National Congress Party, wanted by the International Criminal Court since 2007 for crimes in Darfur.
Sudan’s army has arrested Ahmed Haroun, president of the National Congress Party, which ruled under Omar al-Bashir. Mr Haroun has been wanted for nearly two decades by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes in Darfur. Two party officials speaking to Reuters confirmed the arrest on Sunday, November 8.
The army has issued no statement and there has been no reaction from The Hague. The open question is why the armed forces moved against a political ally. The Islamist current from which the National Congress comes supports the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in the war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and its members say they helped its advances.
The arrest came hours after Mr Haroun’s public reappearance. In a podcast-style interview broadcast on television on Saturday, he said his party and the army may not coincide politically but are united in the war against the RSF. His appearance drew reactions, as he is a wanted man, while party supporters hailed it as a bold move.
What The Hague accuses him of
The ICC case page records an arrest warrant dating from April 27, 2007, when Mr Haroun was a deputy interior minister. The charges are 20 counts of crimes against humanity and 22 of war crimes, for 2003 and 2004 in Darfur: murder, persecution, rape, torture, forcible transfer of population, attacks on civilians and pillaging. The Court does not try people in absentia, so the case remains at a preliminary stage until he is surrendered to The Hague.
Mr Haroun later became minister of humanitarian affairs and governor of South Kordofan. He was arrested in 2019, after the uprising and coup that overthrew Bashir, and held in Kober prison, from which he got out amid the chaos of the war that broke out in 2023. Since then he has said he would present himself to justice when asked. In January 2024 the US offered a 5 million dollar reward for information leading to his arrest. The State Department presents him as the man who recruited, financed and armed the Janjaweed militia.
The war, now over three years old, has caused ethnic massacres, famine and mass displacement. The empty IOM warehouses show the scale of the humanitarian crisis, while a UN report recently documented the Colombian mercenaries sent by a UAE-based firm to the RSF. It remains to be seen whether the arrest signals the army distancing itself from its Islamist allies, or a first step toward cooperation with the ICC.
