Fresh tension as wanted Sudanese war crime suspect escapes from prison

Agency Report

There is palpable tension as a wanted Sudanese war crimes suspect, Ahmed Harun, identified as a top aide of the former leader, Omar al-Bashir, on Tuesday, escaped from prison. Ahmed Harun had revealed that he escaped from Kober prison on Tuesday in the storm of the fighting in Sudan, with other members of the Islamist regime overthrown in 2019. The fleeing war crime suspect was said      to be leader of the al-Bashir regime’s infamous counter-insurgency operations in Darfur in the mid-2000s.

National Daily learnt that the escape of the al-Bashir warlord from prison has been generating fresh apprehension over the fragile ceasefire influenced by the United States (US) to open space for evacuation of foreign nationals trapped in the war-torn Sudan.

It was gathered that the 72-hour ceasefire is being threatened as the Sudanese army launched renewed air strikes against Rapid Support Forces paramilitary in Khartoum late on Tuesday.

Also, anti-aircraft guns were said to be fired at fighter jets in the city of Omdurman on Wednesday. The fighting also continued in Soba in the outskirts of Khartoum.

The fleeing war crimes suspects from the ousted regime of Omar al-Bashir, among who one of them, Ahmed Harun, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, was said to be deepening palpable phobia that the conflagration in Sudan may escalate to worse situation.

The Sudan Army was said to have on Wednesday disclosed that the deposed Omar al-Bashir, also detained in the same prison, had been transferred to an hospital before the outburst of the fighting in Sudan on April 15.

The Army, in a statement, indicated that members of Bashir’s regime, were also taken to a military hospital “due to their health conditions… and remain in the hospital under the guard of the judicial police”.

It was the third reported jailbreak to have taken advantage of the fighting between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and those backing his deputy-turned-rival, RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Harun had in a recorded address to Sudanese television said: “We remained in our detention at Kober, under the crossfire of this current battle, for nine days,” even after the jail was emptied of both guards and prisoners.”

He added that the jailed regime members “had now taken responsibility for our protection in our own hands” in another location.