The wheels of justice have been entirely too slow but, they are finally starting to turn.

It seems there will be some accountability for atrocities that have killed more than 500,000 (though the media seems stuck on an estimate of 200,000) and displaced more than 2.5 million people.

Finally, the International Criminal Court has named its first suspects in these crimes.

The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor named a Sudanese minister and a militia commander on Tuesday as the first suspects he wants tried for war crimes in Darfur and suggested more could follow.

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked pre-trial judges to issue summonses for Ahmed Haroun, state interior minister during the height of the Darfur conflict, and militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb.

“Our work sends a signal: those who commit atrocities cannot do so without impunity,” he told a news conference, adding that prosecutors were still gathering evidence of crimes committed by all parties and monitoring cross-border violence.

Haroun is currently Sudan’s state humanitarian affairs minister, a post below the full ministerial level. Prosecutors said Kushayb was a commander of the Janjaweed militia who led attacks on towns and villages, where dozens were killed.

In a 94-page filing, ICC prosecutors accused the two of criminal responsibility in relation to 51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 2003 and 2004 and urged Khartoum to make sure the suspects appear at the court.

For the sake of the dead and dying and for those terrorized and traumatized by this madness, let’s hope the international community rallies around this very real threat.

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