A Sudanese militia leader has been found guilty of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity more than 20 years ago in the Darfur region.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, led the Janjaweed, a government-backed group that terrorised Darfur, killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Kushayb is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the atrocities in Darfur. He had argued it was a case of mistaken identity.

The conflict lasted from 2003 to 2020 and was one of the world’s gravest humanitarian disasters.

During the trial, survivors described how their villages were burned down, men and boys slaughtered and women forced into sex slavery.

Kushayb was found guilty on 31 counts, centring on attacks committed between 2003 and 2004.

Judges at the ICC found the Janjaweed’s brutal tactics – including mass executions, sexual violence and torture – were often inflicted by Kushayb and his men.

Ahead of the verdict, a small group of Darfuris waited patiently to enter the court, in the Dutch city of The Hague.

They were in no doubt about the pivotal role Kushayb played in their suffering, with one man saying: “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.”

For years, the perpetrators of the Darfur crisis appeared immune from justice.

ICC investigations and UN reporting confirm that systematic violence – including sexual assault and mass killings – persist across the region today.