The International Criminal Court on Monday found a Janjaweed militia commander guilty of war crimes committed in Sudan’s Darfur region more than two decades ago, marking the court’s first conviction linked to the conflict .

The court found Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman guilty of 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including rape, murder and persecution. His sentence will be determined at a later date after a new round of hearings.

The conviction in the first and only trial looking at crimes in Sudan since the case was referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council in 2005 is a landmark for the ICC.

Darfur’s conflict first erupted in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government, accusing it of marginalising the remote wester

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