The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced a Sudanese militia leader to 20 years in prison for atrocities committed during a civil war more than two decades ago.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman had been convicted in October on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
Known as Ali Kushayb, he was one of the leaders of the Janjaweed, a government-backed group that terrorised Darfur, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
Kushayb, aged 76, is the first person to be tried by the ICC for atrocities committed during the civil war. He had argued the charges were a case of mistaken identity.
Dressed in a light blue suit and tie, Kushayb stood quietly as presiding judge Joanna Korner delivered his sentence on Tuesday.
Abdal Raman not only gave the orders which led directly to the crimes but... also personally perpetrated some of them, Judge Korner told the court.
The conflict in question lasted from 2003 to 2020 and was one of the world's gravest humanitarian disasters, with allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the region's non-Arabic population.
Five years after the end of that crisis, Darfur is a key battleground in another civil war, this time between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whose origins lie in the Janjaweed.
During Kushayb's trial, survivors described how their villages were burned down, men and boys slaughtered, and women forced into sex slavery.
Judge Korner said Kushayb had given orders to wipe out and sweep away non-Arab tribes and told soldiers don't leave anyone behind. Bring no one alive. The charges against Kushayb centred on attacks committed between 2003 and 2004.
The Darfur war began after the Arab-dominated government at the time armed the Janjaweed, in an attempt to suppress an uprising by rebels from black African ethnic groups.
The Janjaweed systematically attacked non-Arab villagers accused of supporting the rebels, leading to accusations of genocide that resonate today as violence continues in Darfur.
Many of the Janjaweed fighters went on to join the RSF, which has been accused of targeting non-Arab communities in recent conflicts.
When passing Kushayb's sentence, Judge Korner indicated that the ICC aimed to ensure both retribution and deterrence given the ongoing situation in Sudan.
Despite the historic conviction, experts express skepticism regarding its impact on the current conflict, where many victims of the earlier atrocities still remain displaced. Additionally, outstanding arrest warrants against Sudanese officials, including former president Omar al-Bashir, add to the complexities of achieving justice and accountability.
