Sudan Rebels Tell Libya to Arrest Bashir
A "revolutionary front" of Sudanese rebels seeking to overthrow President Omar al-Bashir asked Libya to arrest the accused war criminal during his visit to Tripoli that began on Saturday.
Bashir arrived in the Libyan capital for his first visit since the country's long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed last year.
"We are calling for the Libyan authorities to arrest Bashir and send him to the ICC because he committed crimes against his people in Darfur," said Ibrahim al-Hillu of Darfur's Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction headed by Abdelwahid Nour.
He spoke to Agence France Presse on behalf of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front formed late last year. It also includes the Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement, another SLA faction, and the SPLM-N rebels based elsewhere in Sudan.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in 2009 for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. A later warrant added genocide to the charges.
Kadhafi was also wanted by the ICC, for suspected crimes against humanity during his attempted suppression of the revolt that erupted last February.
"We condemn the revolutionary authorities for receiving Bashir," Hillu said, referring to Libya's ruling National Transitional Council.
He asked them not to provide funding to the Sudanese leader "because he is using this money to kill" people in his country.
According to the United Nations, at least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since fighting between non-Arab rebels and the Arab-dominated central government erupted in 2003.
Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.
Source: Agence France Presse
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