A leader of a Sudanese militia has been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed over two decades ago in Darfur.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, widely known as Ali Kushayb, was at the helm of the Janjaweed, a militia supported by the Sudanese government, which was responsible for widespread violence in Darfur that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

Kushayb is the first individual prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the Darfur atrocities. He denied the charges, insisting it was a case of mistaken identity.

The conflict, which spanned from 2003 to 2020, ranks among the most severe humanitarian crises in modern history.

Testimonies presented during the trial recounted harrowing experiences: villages set ablaze, males executed, and women subjected to sexual enslavement.

The crimes for which Kushayb was found guilty occurred primarily during the 2003–2004 period.

ICC judges concluded that the Janjaweed's violent campaign which included mass killings, rape, and torture  was often directly carried out by Kushayb and those under his command.

As the court prepared to deliver its decision in The Hague, Netherlands, a small group of Darfurians gathered outside.

They expressed certainty about Kushayb’s central involvement in the atrocities, with one individual stating: "He was the one who gave the orders. He was the one who got the weapons.
So if you ask me if he was important in Darfur, I will you tell you he was one of the most important ones."

The origins of the Darfur conflict trace back to the early 2000s, when Sudan’s then Arab-led government armed the Janjaweed to quell an uprising by rebels from non-Arab African ethnic groups.

These militias carried out coordinated attacks on non-Arab communities suspected of siding with the rebels, prompting international allegations of genocide.

Tragically, similar forms of violence continue today amid Sudan’s ongoing civil war.

Many former Janjaweed members have joined the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary faction now engaged in combat with Sudan’s national army.

Since fighting erupted in 2023, the RSF has been accused by the UK, US, and human rights organizations of perpetrating ethnic cleansing against non-Arab populations in Darfur.