Alleged Janjaweed leader denies Darfur atrocities at war crimes court

Referencing the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Khan said the trial was “an Iftar (breaking of the fast) of sorts for the millions of Sudanese throughout the world that have been yearning for this day to come.”

The trial comes amid what humanitarian groups say is an upsurge of intercommunal violence in Darfur since the end of the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission there.

Decades after the worst of the fighting, 1.6 million people are still internally displaced in Darfur, the United Nations estimates.

Darfur’s conflict first erupted when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government, accusing it of marginalising the remote western territory.

Sudan’s then government mobilised mostly Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to crush the revolt, unleashing a wave of violence that Washington and some activists said amounted to genocide.

Abd-Al-Rahman has been accused of 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and could face up to life imprisonment if convicted.

Prosecutors say he was a key Janjaweed leader that the government of Sudan relied upon and who participated knowingly and willingly in crimes.

They dismissed earlier statements by Abd-Al-Rahman that he is not Ali Kushayb.

“Witness after witness saw him, heard him, recognised him. Witness after witness knew Mr Abd-Al-Rahman from before. This is — the prosecution says — a strong case,” Khan said.