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.

Haroun is currently Sudan's state humanitarian affairs minister, a post below full ministerial level.

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

"We do not recognize 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.

Asked if Sudan could even cooperate with the ICC on the issue, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said: "The Sudan government has cooperated enough with it (ICC) in the early stages, but now they reached a stage of issuing warrants and I don't think the government will be bound (to cooperate.)"

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.