World News in Brief: ICC convicts Malian extremist of war crimes, Sudan crisis update, UN Police Summit preview
The International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down a war crimes conviction on Wednesday against an Al Qaida-linked Malian former self-styled police chief who faced a range of charges, from torture to rape.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mohamed was also found guilty of crimes against humanity. The charges included flogging, sexual slavery and the destruction of historical sites in the ancient city of Timbuktu, according to the 822-page trial judgement.
The restive western African nation has faced an influx of armed terrorist groups for over a decade, including those with ties to Al Qaida and Islamic State (ISIL/Da’esh).
Amputations and floggings
The court prosecutors said the 46-year-old, also known as Al Hassan, was a key actor in Ansar Dine, one of the armed groups that seized power in northern Mali and orchestrated a reign of terror across regional capital, Timbuktu.
According to case files of the trial, which opened in 2020, he faced charges of overseeing amputations and floggings when acting as the group’s “de facto chief of Islamic police” between April 2012 and January 2013.
The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Ag Mahmoud on 27 March 2018, and he surrendered to the court four days later.
He faces life imprisonment, with sentencing to be carried out at a later date.
UN working to scale up aid for Sudanese mired in humanitarian crisis
UN humanitarians and partners are working to scale up the response to address the deepening humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Khartoum, and other “hotspots” across war-ravaged Sudan, the UN Spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The situation in and around the besieged capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, where Rapid Support Forces militia have encircled the last Government-held city in the region, continues to be “extremely worrying”, said Stéphane Dujarric.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted that more than 400 children have reportedly been killed and maimed during the recent escalation in the fighting there.
Deadly conditions
“The continued use of explosive weapons in populated areas is posing further risks to civilians and aid workers alike”, Mr. Dujarric added.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has distributed emergency food and nutrition supplies for more than 135,000 people in Al-Jazirah State in the east-central part of Sudan.
This is the first time WFP supplies have reached Sudan’s former breadbasket since conflict spilled over to the state capital Wad Madani in December last year, forcing WFP to temporarily relocate.
Elsewhere, a WFP convoy carrying more than 2,300 metric tons of food assistance for some 164,000 men, women and children impacted by conflict is crossing the border from Chad into Darfur and on the road to North and Central Darfur.
Some 14 million children – that’s more than half of the 24 million children in Sudan – are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
UN Police summit to showcase role of law enforcement for peace
Government leaders and Chiefs of Police are gathering at UN Headquarters in New York for a summit to further bolster the role of police personnel as critical enablers of peace.
The fourth UN Chiefs of Police Summit (UNCOPS) starts on Thursday and aims to build on the momentum of recent high-level peacekeeping initiatives, reinforcing the importance of multilateralism.
The official theme is Advancing our Common Security: UN Policing for a New Era.
Participants will hold conversations to “strengthen international peace, security, and development for all through the unifying power and enabling role of national and United Nations policing.”
Opportunity knocks
Briefing journalists on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Peace Operations, said UNPOL (the UN Police service) provides expertise and support to Member States on demand.
This comes with the challenge of having to deal with the pressures and impact of climate change, environmental degradation, transnational crime and global terrorism.
“That is why we’re putting a lot of emphasis, particularly in our capacity building activities to strengthen the rule of law capacities of the member states we work with and particularly helped help them better address these challenges,” said Mr. Lacroix.