ICC judges issue arrest warrants for Darfur suspects

By Alexandra Hudson

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - International Criminal Court judges issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, the ICC said on Wednesday, but Sudan refused to hand over the men.

The warrants were issued for Ahmed Haroun, former state minister of interior, and militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb.

Judges said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" the two were responsible for murder, rape, and torture, as well as the forced displacement of villagers, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, the court said.

"The government of the Sudan has a legal duty to arrest Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kushayb," ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement.

But Sudan's Justice Minister Mohamed Ali Al-Mardi told Reuters on Wednesday Khartoum would not hand over the suspects.

"We do not recognise the International Criminal Court ... and we will not hand over any Sudanese even from the rebel groups who take up weapons against the government," he said.

Prosecutors named the men in February as the first suspects in their investigations into the conflict, in which 200,000 people have been killed since it began in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government.

Sudan countered the rebellion by arming militias, who have been accused of atrocities in the conflict. Khartoum denies arming so-called Janjaweed militia, calling them outlaws.