'Outlaws on camelback': State and individual responsibility for serious violations of international law in Darfur

This paper argues that Sudan bears international responsibility for the violations of international law committed by its military forces

The complex humanitarian emergency in Sudan’s Darfur region, since the upsurge in the conflict in 2003, has served to bring to the fore practical difficulties in the operationalisation of the ‘responsibility to protect’ centring on the question of civilian protection and state sovereignty, vis-à-vis international options. In the aftermath of violent armed conflict, this responsibility involves action at two levels: the normative and the physical coercive—military—protection. Given the challenges in the role of the regional intervention—the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS)—in ensuring civilian protection in Darfur, the paper argues that Sudan bears international responsibility for the violations of international law committed by its military forces as well as the civilian Janjaweed militia, formed, organised, funded and armed by the government to support its war against the Darfur rebels. The paper further argues that Sudan’s state responsibility is neither inconsistent with, nor does it detract from the individual responsibility of senior members of the Sudanese government, the Sudanese armed forces, and militia leaders. It concludes by arguing that to challenge impunity for the violations committed in Darfur, both state and individual responsibility must be vigorously pursued, and that the international community must support the ongoing work of the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute all those bearing responsibility for the heinous crimes committed in that region since 2003.

About the author

Alhagi Marong is a Legal Officer at the Chambers Support Section of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UN-ICTR), Arusha, Tanzania. Before joining the UN, Alhagi worked as Co-Director for Africa at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington D.C., taught international law at the American University of Armenia and served as Senior State Counsel at the Ministry of Justice in The Gambia. He has consulted for the Law Reform Commission of The Gambia and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, and attended professional development courses at Jesus College, Cambridge University, and the International Development Law Institute (now Organisation) in Rome, Italy. Mr. Marong holds an LL.B (Hons.) and B.L from the University of Sierra Leone, and LL.M, D.C.L. degrees from McGill University in Canada. The author is grateful to Chernor Charles Jalloh, Mandiaye Niang and George Mugwanya, for comments provided on earlier drafts of this paper.