Darfur rebel chief appears before war crimes court

Darfur rebel chief Bahar Idriss Abu Garda appeared Monday before the International Criminal Court after surrending himself to face war crimes charges over an attack that killed 12 peacekeepers.

The United Resistance Front leader faces three war crimes charges, including murder and pillaging, and is the first to appear before the ICC in connection with the six-year conflict in the western Sudanese region.

"The court appreciates very much your volunteer appearance," Judge Cuno Tarfusser told Abu Garda at the start of proceedings in The Hague.

"You have sent out a very good message."

The appearance of the 46-year-old, who surrendered to the court on Sunday, comes a little more than 10 weeks after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who has refused to cooperate.

Abu Garda is charged over an attack on the Haskanita base in north Darfur in September 2007 that killed 12 African Union soldiers and seriously wounded eight others.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has described the act as "the most serious attack against peacekeepers in Darfur."

Alongside two other rebel leaders whose names the prosecutor has not divulged, Abu Garda is accused of commanding about 1,000 men in a convoy of 30 vehicles mounted with heavy weapons to attack the AMIS peacekeepers.

The attackers also destroyed AMIS infrastructure and pillaged the camp.

The court had issued a summons instead of an arrest warrant for Abu Garda as he had said he would appear before it willingly -- the first ever to do so.

The ICC, the world's only permanent tribunal for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, has to date issued three arrest warrants in connection with its four-year-old investigation into the Darfur conflict -- including one for Beshir on March 4.

The UN says more than 300,000 people have been killed and 2.2 million displaced since the Darfur conflict broke out in 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime for a greater share of resources and power.

The Sudanese government says 10,000 people have been killed.

He would be allowed to leave for Darfur after Monday's appearance, to return to The Hague later for a hearing to determine whether there are sufficient grounds for a trial.

Human Rights Watch welcomed Abu Garda's pending court appearance, "which contrasts sharply with the Sudanese government's relentless obstruction of justice to the victims in Darfur."

"While rebel attacks have not been on the same scale as the crimes committed in the Sudanese government's counter-insurgency campaign, they are nonetheless serious crimes that also have major implications for civilians," Richard Dicker, an HRW spokesman, said in a statement.

William Pace, spokesman for the NGO Coalition for the ICC, said the appearance was a sign that the suspect and some states have confidence in the ICC's ability to offer a fair trial.

"Such confidence and level of cooperation are necessary to end impunity," he said.