The United States announced Monday that it would offer up to $5 million for the arrest of a former collaborator of Sudan's deposed president, Omar al-Bashir, accused of war crimes in Darfur.
The notice concerns Ahmed Haroun, one of his ex-collaborators, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region in western Sudan, between 2003 and 2004, according to the department of American state.
“It is crucial that Ahmed Haroun be found and brought before the ICC to answer the charges against him
,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, quoted in a statement. .
The spokesperson adds that
"there is a clear and direct link between the impunity of abuses committed under Bashir's regime, including those of which Ahmed Haroun is accused, and the violence in Darfur today
. "
Negotiations stall
Last April, shortly after the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), Ahmed Haroun announced that he had escaped from Kober prison in Khartoum, with other former officials. of the regime of Omar al-Bashir.
The conflict has left more than 13,000 dead, according to a very underestimated assessment by the NGO Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), and more than seven million displaced, according to the UN.
Unable to gain the advantage since the start of the war, both camps are stalling but neither intends to make any concessions at the negotiating table.
Ahmed Haroun was a minister under Bashir's regime, as well as governor of the Sudanese state of South Kordofan.