Accused war criminal is Sudan's Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs

LA Times:

For a man accused of masterminding massacres, Ahmad Harun seems quite comfortable in the place he allegedly helped destroy.

He strolls around the grassy compound belonging to the local governor in Sudan's deeply troubled Darfur region, embracing Arab tribal leaders, soldiers and officials who have come to hear the president.

Harun, a tall 42-year-old with high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes, was in charge of the region's security during the height of the violent attacks on farm villages that caused millions to flee their homes in 2003 and 2004. He allegedly recruited, funded and armed local militias to root out rebels who had attacked the Sudanese army, sweeping away their villages, families and the intricate fabric of Darfur's identity along the way.

He publicly relished his command, telling an open meeting of hundreds of officials, tribesmen and soldiers in West Darfur in July 2003 that he had been given "the power and authority to kill or forgive whoever in Darfur."

The rebels are like fish, Harun told a Sudanese committee that was investigating alleged war crimes in 2004, and "the villages are like water to fish." The objective, he suggested, was to eliminate the water.

And yet, on this day three years later, Harun glides unhindered and unapologetic through the parched remains of Darfur. In fact, he is the minister of state for humanitarian affairs in charge of caring for the very people he is accused of displacing. That he holds such a post says much about the limits of international power to cope with a festering crisis.

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It sounds like he could have a career in the UN with his human rights record. Actually the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity, but Sudan rejected the indictment and left him in his current position. That says a lot about Sudan's seriousness of purpose in pushing genocide and about the worthlessness of the International Criminal Court.