On February 27, 2007, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo revealed the names of two suspects accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes — Ahmad Muhammad Harun ("Ahmad Harun"), State Minister of the Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman ("Ali Kushayb"), a Janjaweed militia leader. Ahmad Harun, formerly the Interior Minister of Sudan, is accused of 42 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes while Ali Kushayb is accused of 52 counts. According to the prosecutor’s office, the crimes alleged were committed during attacks on towns and villages in West Darfur between 2003 and 2004.

After examining the evidence submitted by Moreno-Ocampo, the Pre-Trial Chamber I concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects are responsible for the crimes for which they are accused. Given that it is doubtful that the accused will voluntarily appear before the court for trial, the Chamber, on May 2nd, 2007, announced that warrants of arrest have been issued for both suspects. Pursuant to the Rome Statute of the ICC, the Court has notified all State Parties to the Statute, all U.N. Security Council members that are not State Parties to the Statute, as well as Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Libya, seeking their cooperation in the arrest and surrender of Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb. Although Sudan is not a State Party to the Statute, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1593, which referred the Darfur situation to the ICC, requires the government of Sudan to cooperate with the Court regardless of its non-signatory status.

John B. Bellinger III, the legal advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State, has said that the U.S. was ready to consider any request from the ICC to assist in the arrest and surrender of Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb. The U.S., pointed out Bellinger, has accepted the aims of the ICC and that an exception in the US military law allows it to cooperate with the ICC in arresting war criminals.

Sudan has so far refused to turn over the two men and argued that the ICC does not have jurisdiction to put any Sudanese on trial outside of the country. While Ahman Harun remains in his post as minister of state for humanitarian affairs, Ali Kushayb, according to Sudanese officials, has been in the custody of the Sudanese police pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued by the Sudanese authorities in April 2005 and executed in November 2006.

After the ICC initiated investigations into Darfur in 2005, the government of Sudan established a Special Court for the Event in Darfur (SCCED) to prosecute war crimes suspects, but it is widely considered to be a sham and an attempt to circumvent ICC jurisdiction.