On Tuesday this week, the Sudanese justice minister Mohamed Bushara Dousa appointed a special prosecutor for Darfur and announced a special court to handle the "gravest" crimes committed in the Darfur region would be established soon. Ahmed Abdel-Motalib has been given the mandate to investigate all the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur since February 2003, with offices in El-Fasher, the capital of north Darfur. The announcement is part of the requirements of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur signed between Khartoum and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) last July. A human rights commission is also being set up in Darfur as well on orders of President Omer Hassan al-Bashir. The position of a special prosecutor for Darfur was originally set up in 2003 but previous appointees failed to try or bring charges against any individuals, and the failure by the Sudanese judiciary to act on Darfur led the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in March 2005 to refer the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after a UN international commission of inquiry concluded that the Sudanese judiciary was unwilling or unable to carry out credible prosecutions in the war ravaged region. The ICC then charged three individuals from the government, President Al Bashir, South Kordofan governor, Ahmed Haroun, and militia leader, Ali Kushayb with war crimes and crimes against humanity, and President Al Bashir with genocide. --MFA