El Geneina — Ali Kushayb, indicted for war crimes in Darfur, has started to mobilize new people, eyewitnesses have told Radio Dabanga. They saw the former Janjaweed commander in the locality of Taham and Umm Nunu at the border of West and South Darfur.

He was rallying on Sunday and Monday together with men who were together with him when they allegedly committed war crimes between 2003 and 2005.

Ali Kushayb, indicted for war crimes in Darfur, has started to mobilize new people, eyewitnesses have told Radio Dabanga. They saw the former Janjaweed commander in the locality of Taham and Umm Nunu at the border of West and South Darfur. He was rallying on Sunday and Monday together with men who were together with him when they allegedly committed war crimes between 2003 and 2005.

The official name of Ali Kushayb is Ali Mohammad Ali Abdalrahman, who was leading a militia siding with the Sudanese government. He was mainly active in West Darfur (Wadi Salih and Mukjar). The International Criminal Court in The Hague accuses him for committing war crimes by ordering killings, rapes and looting. In 2008 the Sudanese authorities arrested Kushayb together with the current governor of South Kordofan, Ahmed Haroun.

The government released them and announced it would bring Kushayb to court, but it never implemented the threat. Apparently Kushayb is now openly recruiting a new militia.