\n Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said Monday his government was working toward bringing peace to war-torn Darfur as he met hundreds of victims of the conflict who demanded swift justice.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hamdok's one-day visit was his first as prime minister to the devastated region, where a conflict that erupted in 2003 has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.\n<\/p>\n
\n He met victims of the war in the town of Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state, which houses several sprawling camps where tens of thousands of displaced have been living for years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We want justice! Send all criminals of Darfur to the ICC (International Criminal Court),\" chanted a crowd who met Hamdok as he visited camps in Al-Fashir, an AFP correspondent reported.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hamdok assured them that his government was working towards peace in Darfur, a region of the size of Spain.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I know your demands even before you raised them,\" Hamdok told the crowd.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We will all work together to achieve your demands and ensure that normal life returns to Darfur,\" he said as the crowd chanted \"No justice, no peace in Darfur!\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The Darfur conflict flared when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the then Arab-dominated government of since-ousted president Omar al-Bashir, accusing it of marginalising the region economically and politically.\n<\/p>\n
\n Khartoum then applied what rights groups say was a scorched earth policy against ethnic groups suspected of supporting the rebels -- raping, killing, looting and burning villages.\n<\/p>\n
\n About 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the conflict, the United Nations says.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bashir, who the army ousted in April after nationwide protests against his rule, has long been accused by the Hague-based ICC of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We want those criminals to be given to the ICC. Without that there won't be peace in Darfur,\" Mohamed Adam, a prominent leader representing the victims of Darfur, told Hamdok.\n<\/p>\n
\n The protest movement that led to the ouster of Bashir said Sunday it was not against handing over the deposed autocrat to the ICC.\n<\/p>\n
\n The military generals who had initially seized power in the aftermath of Bashir's fall have refused to deliver him to The Hague.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sudan's current transitional authorities would need to ratify the ICC's Rome Statute to allow for the transfer of Bashir to the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said Monday his government was working toward bringing peace to war-torn Darfur as he met hundreds of victims of the conflict who demanded swift justice. Hamdok's one-day visit was his first as prime minister to the devastated region, where a conflict that erupted in 2003 has left hundreds of thousands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-42800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n