On 16 June 2010 two Sudanese rebel leaders wanted for crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan arrived voluntarily before the International Criminal Court (ICC), following a summons to appear. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo) are charged with three counts of war crimes relating to the 2007 attack on African Union peacekeepers at Haskanita Military Group Site (AMIS).

On 27 August 2009 Pre-Trial Chamber I at the ICC issued summons under seal for the men to appear. The seals were lifted on 16 June 2010. The two will appear before the ICC in an initial hearing on 17 June 2010, in which they will be informed of their rights under the Rome statute, and the crimes they are alleged to have committed.

Pre-Trial Chamber I considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the attack occurred in the context of an armed conflict of non-international character between the Government of Sudan and several organised armed groups at the time of the attack. It was allegedly carried out by the troops belonging to the Sudanese Liberation Army-Unity (SLA-Unity), which had broken away from the Sudanese Liberation Movement-Army (SLA/M), under the command of Jerbo, jointly with splinter forces of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), under the command of Banda.

It is alleged that the attackers, numbering approximately 1,000, were armed with anti-aircraft guns, artillery guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and that they killed 12 AMIS soldiers and severely wounded eight others. During and after the attack, they allegedly destroyed AMIS communications installations, dormitories, vehicles and other materials and appropriated AMIS property, including refrigerators, computers, cellular phones, military boots and uniforms, 17 vehicles, fuel, ammunition and money.

Situation in Darfur, Sudan

The case is the fourth in the situation in Darfur, Sudan. On 25 May 2010 Pre-Trial I issued a decision informing the United Nations Security Council about the lack of co-operation by the Republic of Sudan in the case of the Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun (Ahmad Harun) and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al Rahman (Ali Kushayb). On 23 April, Pre-Trial Chamber I  rejected the Prosecutor’s application to appeal a Pre-trial Chamber decision declining to confirm charges against Bahar Idriss Abu Garda. Abu Garda was also accused of directing attacks on African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, and appeared voluntarily before the ICC.