Sudan 101: Why is President Bashir accused of war crimes in Darfur?

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir is accused of ordering the recruitment of Arab janjaweed militia to wipe out the non-Arab tribes in the Darfur region.

President Omar al-Bashir is accused of organizing a war against non-Arab rebels in the Darfur region, who were protesting Darfur’s neglect by Mr. Bashir's Arab-dominated government.

In this war, his military and political agents in the region are accused of recruiting Arab nomadic tribes into militias called the janjaweed. These nomads attacked Darfuri farmers, who tended to come from non-Arabic speaking tribes.

The United Nations estimates that some 300,000 of these non-Arabs were killed.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and is taking a second look at charges of genocide.

To prove genocide, the ICC prosecution has to prove that Bashir and his agents intended to kill off an ethnic group, in the same way that Adolf Hitler had a specific plan to eliminate Europe’s Jews in World War II and that Rwandan Hutu leaders intended to kill off the Tutsi minority in the spring of 1994.

Sudan 101:

Part 1: Why does Sudan have so many wars?

Part 2: Why is President Omar al-Bashir accused of war crimes in Darfur?

Part 3: Is the Darfur conflict a fight between Arabs and black Africans?

Part 4: What is the Darfur war about?

Part 5: Could the war over South Sudan spark up again?

Part 6: Could Sudan's oil resources solve its problems?