Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Arabic: عبد الله باندا أباكر نورين), commonly referred to as Abdallah Banda (عبد الله باندا), was the Commander-in-Chief of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Collective-Leadership, one of the components of the United Resistance Front. As of June 2019[update], he is wanted for trial before the International Criminal Court for three counts of war crimes allegedly committed during the Haskanita raids against African Union peacekeepers within the context of the Darfur conflict in Sudan.
Birth and ethnicity
According to information from the International Criminal Court,[1] Abdallah Banda was born in or around 1963 in Wai, Dar Kobe, North Darfur. He is a member of the Zaghawa tribe.
On the evening of 29 September 2007, groups led by Banda and Jerbo are alleged to have attacked African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) soldiers at the Haskanita Military Group Site in Umm Kadada in North Darfur. A total of 12 AMIS peace keepers were killed.
ICC proceedings
After the Darfur situation was referred to the ICC by the United Nations Security Council through its Resolution 1593 on 31 March 2005 the Darfur conflict has been under the jurisdiction of the ICC. The Prosecutor of the Court opened an investigation on 6 June 2005.
On 27 August 2009, summons to appear were issued against Banda and Jerbo under seal. They were unsealed on 15 June 2010, immediately before the two suspects' voluntary initial appearance before the Court. They were charged with three counts of war crimes: violence to life, pillaging and attacking peacekeepers.
After the confirmation of charges hearing on 8 December 2010, the charges were confirmed and the suspects committed to trial on 7 March 2011.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant in September 2014. His trial was indefinitely postponed while waiting for his arrest.[2] As of June 2019[update], Banda remained at large.[3] As of May 2024, Banda still remained at large.
Italics and (*) indicate that a person was convicted by the ICC and that the conviction remains valid; a name in (parentheses) indicates that charges were dropped or a conviction was overturned; † indicates a person confirmed by the ICC as deceased before or during trial; (x) after a name indicates that the case was closed by the ICC because of a national-level trial of the accused
