Ahmad Mohammed Harun
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir handed leadership of the country's ruling party to his newly appointed deputy, the party said 01 March 2019, weeks into protests against Bashir's rule. "President Omar al-Bashir has transferred his authority as chief of the party to Ahmed Harun," the ruling National Congress Party said in a statement. "Harun will serve as the acting chief of NCP until the party's next general convention, where a new president of the party will be elected."
Demonstrations and deadly clashes had rocked Bashir's iron-fisted rule since December 2018, and Bashir imposed a year-long state of emergency to quell the protests. Bashir appointed Harun, wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in the conflict in Darfur, as his deputy party chief as part of top level changes in his administration in the face of ongoing protests.
An NCP party statement said a new president would be chosen at the next general convention. A date for the convention, however, had not been set. the NCP enjoyed a sweeping majority in parliament. The party's chief becomes its candidate for the presidential elections, according to the party's charter.
Ahmad Mohammed Harun (“Ahmad Harun”) was born in 1964, of the tribe Bargou, in the state of North Kordofan, Sudan. He studied in the University of Cairo and he trained as a judge. After 1990, he entered the Sudanese Intelligence and Security Service where he worked until 2005. In 1995, he became a team leader for the governor of the state of North Kordofan. One of his tasks was recruiting local tribes into the Peoples Defence Forces (Reserve paramilitary units of the army) for internal repression of uprisings in the province – a tactic that was used later in Darfur. Harun is a member of the governmening National Congress Party. Ahmad Harun served from 2003 to 2005 as Minister of the State for the Interior of the Government of Sudan and in charge of the management of the "Darfur Security Desk" thereby co-ordinating the different bodies of the Government involved in the counter-insurgency, including the Police, the Armed Forces, the National Security and Intelligence Service and the Militia/Janjaweed.
In 2006 and 2007 he was Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs of Sudan. A law passed in February 2006 (the Organization of Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act), required “noninterference by foreign and international organizations in the internal affairs of the Sudan, to the extent that these infringe upon the sovereignty of the country”. In October 2006 State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmad Mohamed Haroun, renewed accusations that international humanitarian NGOs were violating Sudanese law by supporting political activities. In November 2006, Ahmed Harun reportedly accused international humanitarian NGOs of violating Sudanese law by their support of political activities.
An armed conflict took place between the Government of Sudan including combatants from the Sudan People's Armed Forces ('the Sudanese Armed Forces') and the Popular Defence Force (the 'PDF') along with the Militia / Janjaweed against organized rebel groups, including the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur, Sudan. The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Militia/Janjaweed, acting together as part of the counter-insurgency campaign, carried out several attacks, of a systematic or widespread nature, on the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, Arawala and surrounding areas in 2003 and 2004. In these towns criminal acts were allegedly committed against civilians primarily from the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit populations, such as murders of civilians, rapes and outrages upon the personal dignity of women and girls, persecution, forcible transfers, imprisonment or severe deprivation of liberty, and attacks intentionally directed against the above-mentioned populations.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber decided that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Ahmad Harun, by virtue of his position, had knowledge of the crimes committed against the civilian population and of the methods used by the Militia/Janjaweed; and that in his public speeches Ahmad Harun not only demonstrated that he knew that the Militia/Janjaweed were attacking civilians and pillaging towns and villages, but also personally encouraged the commission of such illegal acts; and that due to his position at the Darfur Security Desk and through his overall co-ordination and personal participation in key activities of the Security Committees, namely the recruiting, arming and funding of the Militia/Janjaweed in Darfur, Ahmad Harun intentionally contributed to the commission of these crimes.
Following the referral from the United Nations Security Council, the Prosecutor received the conclusion of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur. In addition, the Office of the Prosecutor requested information from a variety of sources, leading to the collection of thousands of documents. The Prosecutor concluded that the statutory requirements for initiating an investigation were satisfied and decided to open the investigation, on June 6, 2005. On 27 February 2007, Pre-Trial Chamber I issued two warrants of arrest, against Ali Kushayb and Ahmed Harun. Harun and Kushayb are still at large.
The warrant of arrest against Ahmad Muhammad Harun lists 42 counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (articles 25(3)(b) and 25(3)(d) of the Rome Statute) including: twenty counts of crimes against humanity: (murder - articles 7(1)(a) and 25(3)(d); persecution - articles 7(1)(h) and 25(3)(d); forcible transfer of population - articles 7(1)(d) and 25(3)(d); rape - articles 7(1)(g) and 25(3)(d); inhumane acts - articles 7(1)(k) and 25(3)(d)); imprisonment or severe deprivation of liberty - articles 7(1)(e) and 25(3)(d); and torture - articles 7(1)(f)) and 25(3)(d); and twenty-two counts of war crimes: (murder - articles 8(2)(c)(i) and 25(3)(d); attacks against the civilian population - articles 8(2)(e)(i) and 25(3)(d); destruction of property - articles 8(2)(e)(xii) and 25(3)(d); rape - articles 8(2)(e)(vi) and 25(3)(d); pillaging (articles 8(2)(e)(v) and 25(3)(d); and outrage upon personal dignity - articles 8(2)(c)(ii) and 25(3)(d)).
Khartoum refused to hand the two men over, claiming there is no evidence against them and that the ICC has no jurisdiction in Sudan. In September 2007, Harun, the former State Minster for the Interior in charge of the “Darfur Security Desk,” was appointed co-president of the national committee charged with investigating human rights violations in Darfur. The Sudanese governments put Ahmad Harun in a high-ranking position where he can continue to threaten victims of the violence in Darfur and humanitarian workers.
Harun, who is a member of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party, won the Southern Kordofan state governorship election, in a vote that some opposition groups said was rigged. A spokesman for Darfur’s rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) was unsurprised at the time that Harun had been appointed governor of South Kordofan: “Having orchestrated the Darfur genocide, Harun is the right choice for the Government of Sudan to complete the unfinished job to ethnically cleanse the Nuba People and bring in Arabs to occupy their lands” (Sudan Tribune, June 21, 2011).
As governor, he was filmed addressing troops before a battle with rebel fighters urging them to "take no prisoners". In footage obtained by Al Jazeera in March 2012, Ahmed Harun, the state governor who had already been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in Darfur, was captured on camera telling his soldiers to take strong action against anyone who comes in their way. Harun is addressing his soldiers before they enter rebel territory by saying: "You must hand over the place clean. Swept, rubbed, crushed. Don’t bring them back alive. We have no space for them."
Some people in Sudan felt Harun's comments should not be taken out of context. People here are saying that this statement by Ahmed Harun should not be taken as a literal order to the Sudanese soldiers to kill those rebels and not to take any prisoners. They said Ahmed Harun was smiling, he was in an unofficial way talking to those soldiers in a situation which is locally understood as a way to raise the fighting spirit of the soldiers but not giving them a specific and definite order to kill. But "take no prisoners" means a crime against humanity or a war crime, because if the prisoner was a combatant it is a war crime and if the pisoner was a civilian it's a crime against humanity.
President of the Republic Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir brought together 17 October 2018 at the Guest House the Wali (governor) of the North Kordofan State Ahmed Mohamed Haroun and the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalu. The Wali of North Kordofan said, following the meeting, that in light of the national action process and the performance of the state institutions for their roles and duties, there might be some unintended inconsistencies. However, the existence of the Great Goal of maintaining and developing the country and the existence of a conscious leadership aware of its duties contributes to controlling the overall rhythm of the organization and resolving all personal problems. "I and my brother Ahmed Haroun agreed on one word: that what happened was a summer cloud that has passed, and we are the heart of one man and we are working for the interest of the homeland and the citizen”, said Lt. Gen. Hemaitti.
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