War Crimes in Darfur

On the day the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asks that Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, The Times has a piece by a doctor from Darfur, Halima Bashir, describing the horrors she's been forced to endure

In 2005 I arrived in the UK, and was granted asylum. I still have no idea who of my family is still alive, or where they may be. All I do know is that I owe my life to fate, and the sanctuary provided by the UK.

And I also know that the war crimes in Darfur, including the use of rape as a weapon of war, have been sanctioned from the very top of the regime in Sudan. My life is testimony to that. Before the war in Darfur, the Arab tribes that make up the Janjawid were poor nomads, with no weapons but swords and knives. They were armed by the regime, and given orders to lay waste to our homeland. They were aided by the warplanes and soldiers of the Sudanese military.

Her book, Tears of the Desert, is just published.