\n International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Tuesday she discussed with Sudanese officials access for investigators to probe alleged atrocities in Darfur region under ousted president Omar al-Bashir.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bashir, who was toppled in April 2019, has been wanted by the ICC for nearly a decade on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western region of Darfur.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"A memorandum of understanding on the modalities of cooperation, technical visits, and immediate access in Sudan by our investigators, amongst other action points, were discussed,\" Bensouda said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We look forward to making timely progress on all of these items,\" she told a news conference in Khartoum.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bensouda is heading an ICC delegation that has been in Khartoum since Saturday on a mission to review options of holding Bashir and others accountable for the Darfur conflict, which left hundreds of thousands dead.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ICC prosecutor hailed cooperation efforts by Sudan's transitional authorities, who seized power after Bashir's ouster, and described her visit to Sudan as \"historic\".\n<\/p>\n
\n She said she was looking to launch an \"investigation on the ground in Darfur as soon as possible.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Bensouda also voiced hopes for sending a \"permanent delegation\" to Sudan, and said she discussed the matter with authorities.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fighting in Darfur erupted in 2003 between African minority rebels, complaining of the region's marginalisation, and government-backed forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n The United Nations estimates the fighting killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others.\n<\/p>\n
\n Other than Bashir, several of his aides also face accusations of committing atrocities in Darfur, including former South Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun and ex-defence minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein.\n<\/p>\n
\n Both are in custody in Sudan.\n<\/p>\n
\n A fifth man, rebel leader Abdallah Banda, is wanted by the ICC but remains at large.\n<\/p>\n
\n In June, militia leader Ali Kushayb, who was accused by the ICC of multiple accounts of rape, murder and pillaging, surrendered himself to the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Tuesday she discussed with Sudanese officials access for investigators to probe alleged atrocities in Darfur region under ousted president Omar al-Bashir. Bashir, who was toppled in April 2019, has been wanted by the ICC for nearly a decade on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity […]<\/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-45726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n