The International Criminal Court's Chief Prosecutor has named the first two people accused of committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the pre-trial judges to issue summonses for Ahmed Haroun, state minister of interior at the height of the conflict, and militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb.
The pair have been accused of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture and mass rape.
Mr Abd-al-Rahman is understood to be a leader of the Janjaweed, who are blamed for many attacks in Darfur.
In a written filing, the prosecutor said there was reason to believe that the two 'bear criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur in 2003 and 2004'.
However the Sudanese government has responded by rejecting the court's legitimacy and insisting that it would try all war criminals itself.
200,000 dead
The charges come as the Sudanese region enters a fifth year of a civil war which has seen more than 200,000 killed and a further 2.5m displaced.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo and his investigators have been looking into Darfur atrocities since June 2006, visiting 17 countries and conducting more than 100 interviews.
The focus has so far been on events alleged to have occurred between 2003 and 2004, the most violent period in the crisis.
A 100-page document outlining the evidence has been sent to the ICC judges, and they now have to decide if there are enough grounds to issue a summons or an arrest warrant for the suspects.
