Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, is accused of overseeing thousands of pro-government Janjaweed fighters responsible for persecution, murder, rape and torture during the 2003-2004 height of the violence in which hundreds of thousands were killed.

“I am innocent of all of these charges,” Septuagenarian Abd-Al-Rahman, told judges after the charges were read out at the start of his case.

Abd-Al-Rahman, whom prosecutors say was also known as Ali Kushayb, voluntarily surrendered to The Hague-based court in June 2020 after 13 years on the run. He has denied the charges.

The trial comes amid an upsurge in what humanitarian groups say is inter-communal violence in Darfur since the end of the United Nations and African Union mission there.

Decades after the worst of the fighting, 1.6 million people are still internally displaced in Darfur, the United Nations estimates.

Darfur’s conflict first erupted when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government, which responded with a counter-insurgency.

Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to crush the revolt, unleashing a wave of violence that Washington and some activists said amounted to genocide.

Abd-Al-Rahman has been accused of 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and could face up to life imprisonment if convicted.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Hugh Lawson)