Syria does not recognize the International Criminal Court, so an ICC case against Bashar Assad can only be launched by the Security Council—where Russia holds a veto.
Amnesty International called upon UN members to demand Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir turn himself in to the International Criminal Court to face genocide charges.
Efforts by pastoralist militias to bar refugees from returning to their lands in Darfur have sparked yet a new wave of fighting and displacement—with 250,000 uprooted this year.
Deputy commander of the JEM-Bashar rebel faction and international war crimes suspect Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus has reportedly been killed in Northern Darfur.
Security forces mixed it up with protesters both in Sudan, hit by a wave of student unrest, and in South Sudan’s West Bahr el-Ghazal state, where 10 were killed by army troops.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Sudan to investigate claims of excessive force by government troops against protesters in Darfur, resulting in eight deaths.
Seeking to legitimize his regime now that he's reconquered most of Syria (with massive Russian military help), Bashar Assad has just welcomed the first Arab League leader to Damascus since the war began in 2011—none other than President Omar Bashir of Sudan, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. The Assad regime's official news agency SANA said the two dictators discussed the "situations and crises faced by many Arab countries," stressing the need to build "new principles for inter-Arab relations based on the respect of the sovereignty of countries and non-interference in internal affairs." The Assad regime is itself now credibly accused of genocide, with a mass extermination of detainees amply documented, not to mention serial use of chemical weapons and massive bombardment of civilian populations. Assad and his generals may yet face war crimes charges before the ICC. (Photos: Pinterest, BashirWatch)
