Ali Kushayb

Ali Kushayb's father was a member of the Ta’isha tribe while his mother was from the Dangaoni tribe from the southern part of Sudan.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, commonly known as Ali Kushayb (also: Koship, Kosheib, Kouchib, Kosheb, Koshib), is a senior Janjaweed commander supporting the Sudanese government against Darfur rebel groups, and as of June 2019, is sought under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. He was known as aqid al oqada ("colonel of colonels") and was active in Wadi Salih, West Darfur. On February 27, 2007, Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo charged Kushayb with crimes against civilians in Darfur during 2003 and 2004, accusing him of ordering killings, rapes, and looting. An ICC arrest warrant was issued for him and Ahmed Haroun, his co-defendant, on April 27, 2007. In April 2008, he was released from Sudanese custody. Sudanese authorities re-arrested Kushayb in October 2008. In early 2013, Kushayb was commander of the Central Reserve Forces (Abu Tira) in Rahad el-Berdi in South Darfur. On 7 July 2013 he was shot twice in the shoulder by an unidentified gunman, for which he was hospitalised in Khartoum. In December 2017, Kushayb was accused Salamat tribe leaders of an attempted murder in Rahad el-Berdi.

In April 2013, Kushayb, as commander of the Central Reserve Forces (Abu Tira) in Rahad el-Berdi in South Darfur, carried out a military attack with support from military intelligence forces after a peace treaty between the Salamat and al-Taaysha tribes had been signed. On 7 July 2013, Kushayb, his bodyguards, and a tea-seller standing nearby were injured by a gunman in Nyala. Kushayb was bleeding from his shoulders and admitted to the Nyala Police Hospital with two bullet wounds in his shoulder. One of the bodyguards died. Kushayb was transferred to a hospital in Khartoum. In December 2017, Kushayb was accused by leaders of the Salamat tribe of trying to kill Ali Osman Obeid, a cattle merchant, in Rahad el-Berdi.

On February 27, 2007, Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo charged Kushayb with crimes against civilians in Darfur during 2003 and 2004, accusing him of ordering killings, rapes, and looting. An ICC arrest warrant was issued for him and Ahmed Haroun, his co-defendant, on April 27, 2007. In April 2008, he was released from Sudanese custody. According to news reports in October 2008 the Sudanese authorities re-arrested Kushayb. However, it is not known where Mr. Kushayb is being kept nor whether he will be turned over to the International Court.

Ali Kushayb was an aqid al-ogada, a colonel of colonels, for the Wadi Salih area in Darfur. He was one of the senior leaders of the tribal hierarchy in the Wadi Salih locality, and was a member of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF), as well as a commander of a government backed militia in Darfur from August 2003 until March 2004. He served as a liaison between the government and the Janjaweed, while simultaneously participating in attacks against targeted groups.

Kushayb has been accused of personally participating in attacks against civilians in the towns of Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar and Arawala and surrounding areas between August 2003 and March 2004. Kushayb was reported to be working for Ahmed Haroun. Eyewitnesses have reported meetings between Kushayb and Haroun. In one instance in August 2003, for example, Kushayb and Haroun supposedly met in the town of Mukluk, where Haroun provided money and arms to Kushayb for the militia. After their meeting Kushayb led the militia in an attack on the town of Bindisi. The attack lasted five days, during which more than 100 people were killed including 30 children.

In December 2003 in the town of Arawala, a witness reported Kushayb inspecting her and other women who had been tied to a tree naked to be raped repeatedly by Janjaweed militia soldiers. According to the ICC, Kushayb directly participated in the murder of 32 men in the town of Mukjar. Fifteen minutes after Kushayb and his soldiers took the men from the village, gunshots were heard and 32 dead bodies were found the next day. In another attack led by Kushayb near Mukjar, a man was arrested and told what he witnessed: