THE HAGUE – A representative of Darfur displacement camp leaders urged the International Criminal Court to recognize the land rights of displaced communities and ensure full reparations for victims in the case of convicted Janjaweed commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb.

Speaking during an ICC hearing, lawyer Abdelbasit Mohamed, representing the General Coordination Committee for Displacement Camps in Darfur, called on the court to establish shared responsibility for the crimes for which Kushayb was convicted.

Mohamed said the committee was not asking the court to hold the Sudanese state responsible, but to identify the responsibility of individuals who participated in the crimes. He said the trial judgment found that the crimes were committed as part of a common plan with others.

He relied on the principle of joint responsibility, citing the reparations order in the case of Dominic Ongwen, and argued that the existence of other people responsible for the crimes should not reduce victims’ right to full reparations.

Land Rights and Hawakeer

Mohamed said the areas of Wadi Saleh, where the town of Garsila is located in Central Darfur, depend on the traditional hawakeer land-tenure system, which links families and communities to land across generations.

He said the killing of a number of sheikhs and omdas led to the loss of part of the records and customary knowledge that had been used to prove land ownership and settle disputes.

Mohamed said the committee was not asking the court to physically return families to their land or issue orders against people who were not represented before it.

Instead, he urged the court to establish that land seizures carried out in the context of the crimes were unlawful, in a way that preserves the right of affected communities to claim their land in the future.

He also called on the court to support the documentation of villages and hawakeer and the reconstruction of land ownership records destroyed during the war.

Mohamed said the court should preserve victims’ rights before future or existing mechanisms, including land and compensation mechanisms provided for under the Juba and Doha agreements.

Women and Survivors

Mohamed said women and girls who survived violence had called for the establishment of women’s centers and the provision of psychosocial support and rehabilitation services for victims of sexual violence.

He said women representatives also called for support to community infrastructure.

According to Mohamed, women representatives proposed delaying individual compensation until the war ends and conditions stabilize, saying the current situation does not provide a suitable environment for implementing such reparations.

Promises and Reparations

Mohamed said residents of Darfur’s displacement camps had received many promises over the years.

He said the lack of available funds could be endured, but the loss of promises related to their rights to return and receive reparations would be far more difficult.

He stressed that the court’s findings on land rights and reparations for affected communities would have consequences beyond the courtroom and could provide a legal basis for future claims by Darfur communities harmed by the war.

ICC Darfur File

The ICC’s Darfur investigation began after the UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the court under Resolution 1593 in 2005, following crimes committed since 2003.

The investigation included allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Kushayb is the first accused person in the Darfur file to appear before the ICC and stand trial.

The court issued an arrest warrant for him in April 2007, accusing him of dozens of crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, during attacks on civilians in Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Deleig and other areas of Darfur between 2003 and 2004.

His case was separated from the case of former Sudanese official Ahmed Haroun in June 2020.

In June 2020, Kushayb arrived at the ICC headquarters in The Hague after surrendering himself to authorities in the Central African Republic, ending years outside the court’s custody.

His trial opened before the ICC Trial Chamber in 2021, becoming the first full trial of a person accused of crimes linked to the Darfur file.

Conviction and Other Suspects

The reparations proceedings follow the ICC’s conviction of Kushayb in October 2025 on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The court later sentenced him in December 2025 to 20 years in prison.

The case concerns crimes committed in Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Deleig and other areas between 2003 and 2004.

Ahmed Haroun, Sudan’s former minister of state for interior and the official responsible for the Darfur file at the time, remains wanted by the ICC. The court issued an arrest warrant for him on April 27, 2007, alongside Kushayb.

Haroun faces 20 counts of crimes against humanity and 22 counts of war crimes, according to the court file.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant in March 2012 for Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein, Sudan’s former defense and interior minister, on seven counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes related to Darfur.

Former Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is also wanted by the ICC. The court issued its first arrest warrant against him on March 4, 2009, and a second warrant on July 12, 2010.

The charges against Bashir include crimes against humanity, war crimes and three counts of genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities.

The arrest warrants against Bashir, Haroun and Abdelrahim Hussein remain outstanding, and none of the three has appeared before the court.

The Kushayb case remains significant because it moved the Darfur file from arrest warrants and allegations to a full trial and judicial findings on crimes committed against civilians, while cases against several senior Sudanese officials remain pending because they have not been transferred to The Hague.