KHARTOUM, SUDAN (AP) - A Sudanese anti-terrorism court on Wednesday convicted 10 alleged Darfur rebels of waging war and sentenced them to death for their role in last year’s deadly attack on the country’s capital, court officials said.
Also Wednesday, Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, arrived in Khartoum in the first U.S. congressional visit since an international court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president for alleged war crimes in Darfur. Kerry is expected to visit the western Sudanese region on Friday, making him the second high-profile American to travel to Darfur this month.
The court’s verdict brought to 60 the number of people who have been sentenced to death in a series of trials after the May 2008 attack just outside of Khartoum that killed about 200 people including civilians.
The fighting began when rebels from Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement drove into a Khartoum suburb. The assault was the closest rebels from Darfur have gotten to the government’s seat in the six-year conflict.
It is unknown how many people were arrested after the attack, and it is not clear if all those detained were rebels. New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing witnesses, said in May at least 100 people were arrested at checkpoints and in house-to-house searches.
Judge Mutasim Osman convicted the 10 of waging war against the state and terrorizing civilians and acquitted three others. After the verdict was read, the men chanted slogans against the government, and some of their relatives wept.
The government and JEM had started peace talks in February. But the talks faltered after the International Criminal Court issued its warrant in March against President Omar al-Bashir.
Al-Bashir rejected the accusations and responded by expelling 13 foreign aid groups and three local ones working mostly in Darfur.
JEM says it will not participate in further talks unless al-Bashir reverses his decision. The aid groups make up nearly 40 percent of relief providers in the region, and the U.N. and U.S. officials warned of a developing humanitarian crisis.
After arriving in Khartoum, Kerry, D-Mass., said he was “hopeful” that progress can be made in Sudan.
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama’s envoy to Sudan visited a Darfur refugee camp and warned that water and sanitation services in the overcrowded camp were in a jeopardy. J.S. Gration said chances for the return of all the 13 aid groups were slim and called for ways to prevent a crisis.
OXFAM-GB also said Wednesday it appealed the Sudanese government’s decision to expel it from Darfur and northern Sudan. Alun McDonald, who is based in Nairobi for Oxfam, said the legal process would take at least a month.
The Darfur conflict started when mostly ethnic African rebels took up arms against the government in 2003, complaining of neglect and discrimination. Up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million displaced in the conflict, according to U.N. figures. Sudan says the numbers are exaggerated.
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