Darfur justice could prove elusive despite al-Bashir's fall

FILE - In this May 19, 2004 file photo, then Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir speaks to thousands of Sudanese in Nyala, capital of the country's southern Darfur state. Al-Bashir, driven from power in April 2019, and now languishing in a prison where his opponents were once jailed and tortured, is more vulnerable than ever to a decade-old international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Darfur. But the military, which forced him from power after four months of mass protests, has said it will not extradite him to the International Criminal Court at the Hague. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf, File)

FILE - In this July 1, 2004 file photo, displaced Sudanese women at the Zam Zam refugee camp are seen just outside the town of El-Fashir in the Darfour region of Sudan during a visit by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, driven from power in April 2019, and now languishing in a prison where his opponents were once jailed and tortured, is more vulnerable than ever to a decade-old international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Darfur. But the military, which forced him from power after four months of mass protests, has said it will not extradite him to the International Criminal Court at the Hague. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo, File)

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, driven from power and now languishing in a prison where his opponents were once jailed and tortured, is more vulnerable than ever to a decade-old international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Darfur.

But the military, which forced him from power after four months of mass protests, says it won't extradite him to the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

Even many of al-Bashir's opponents are reluctant to hand him over to the ICC, saying they prefer to bring him to justice in Sudan.

Any attempt to hold him and other top officials accountable could pose risks to the transition to civilian rule sought by the protesters.

The Darfur conflict broke out in 2003, eventually killing an estimated 300,000 people and displacing some 2.7 million.