Sudan will extradite former President Omar al-Bashir and other officials wanted in connection with the Darfur conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi said on Wednesday.
Mahdi was quoted by state media as saying that the “cabinet decided to hand over wanted officials to the ICC.”
Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades until he was deposed in 2019 amid popular protests, faces genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity charges in Darfur.
Read also: How FMBN is Leveraging Co-operatives to Make Homes Possible for Nigerians
According to the United Nations (UN), the conflict, which began in 2003 in the vast western region, killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.
Bashir, 77, has been on the ICC’s wanted list since 2009, when the court issued an arrest warrant for him.
The decision to hand him over came during ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s visit to Sudan.
Sudan has been led by a transitional civilian-military administration since August 2019 that has vowed to bring justice to victims of alleged Bashir-era crimes.
