Warcrimes court finds multiple Darfur massacres

UNITED NATIONS – The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Wednesday his office had documented massacres with hundreds of victims in Sudan’s Darfur region as well as hundreds of rape cases.

In a report to the UN Security Council, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the office had documented “thousands of alleged direct killings of civilians by parties to the conflict,” including “a significant number of large-scale massacres, with hundreds of victims in each incident”. Ocampo told the council that his office was investigating allegations that some of the groups implicated in the Darfur crimes “did so with specific genocidal intent.”He said identifying those with the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes in Darfur was a key challenge for his probe but said he would not draw any conclusions pending the completion of a “full and impartial investigation”.He said the ICC would need the “full support of the Security Council and the unfettered cooperation of the international community, in particular the government of Sudan”.Ocampo said interviews of victims and witnesses reported that men perceived to be from the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups were “deliberately targeted”.Evidence cited eyewitness accounts that “the perpetrators made statements reinforcing the targeted nature of the attacks, such as ‘we will kill all the blacks’ and ‘we will drive you out of this land”.The report also cited a “significant amount of information indicating that thousands of civilians have died since 2003” as a result of lack of shelter and basic necessities – Nampa-AFPOcampo told the council that his office was investigating allegations that some of the groups implicated in the Darfur crimes “did so with specific genocidal intent.”He said identifying those with the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes in Darfur was a key challenge for his probe but said he would not draw any conclusions pending the completion of a “full and impartial investigation”.He said the ICC would need the “full support of the Security Council and the unfettered cooperation of the international community, in particular the government of Sudan”.Ocampo said interviews of victims and witnesses reported that men perceived to be from the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups were “deliberately targeted”.Evidence cited eyewitness accounts that “the perpetrators made statements reinforcing the targeted nature of the attacks, such as ‘we will kill all the blacks’ and ‘we will drive you out of this land”.The report also cited a “significant amount of information indicating that thousands of civilians have died since 2003” as a result of lack of shelter and basic necessities – Nampa-AFP