ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Sudan Defense Minister for Crimes Against Humanity

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant Thursday for Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, as part of an ongoing investigation into atrocities committed in Darfur.

The ICC wants Hussein on 20 counts of crimes against humanity, including persecution and rape, and 21 counts or war crimes which include murder and attacks against the civilian population.

Hussein, 60, is one of several sitting Sudanese government ministers wanted by the ICC in The Hague for orchestrating genocide during the Darfur conflict, in which 300,000 people died according to the United Nations.

Others wanted by the ICC include Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

All of those wanted are still at-large.

The court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in December the warrant covers crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between August 2003 and March 2004.

The evidence allowed the office of the prosecutor to conclude that Mr. Hussein is one of those who bears the greatest criminal responsibility, Moreno-Ocampo's office said in December, according to Agence France Presse.

The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003, with the Sudanese army and government backing the Janjaweed militia which attacked the mostly non-Arab Sudanese based in the Darfur region of the country.

The conflict resulted in attacks on civilians and mass migrations which left millions stuck in refugee camps across the border.