The naming of Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's state humanitarian affairs minister, by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as one of its first war crimes suspects in Darfur reminded me of the song Ironic by Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette on her album "Jagged Little Pill".

If you've never heard it, here are a few of the lyrics:

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
... And isn't it ironic... don't you think?"

If you're already thinking, what's so ironic about these situations - well, that may be the point. As outlined in a Wikipedia entry dedicated to the song, arguably the only thing that's truly ironic about Ironic is that it contains no irony.

You might be wondering what on earth this has got to do with Darfur's four-year-long humanitarian crisis...

Haroun was Sudan's state interior minister during the height of the conflict in Darfur. According to ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the evidence his team collected showed that Haroun funded Darfur's Janjaweed militia from an unlimited budget that was not publicly audited and was seen personally delivering arms, ammunition and well-guarded boxes to the militia.

At a public meeting, Haroun boasted that as head of the "Darfur Security Desk", he had been given "all the power and authority to kill or forgive whoever in Darfur for the sake of peace and security".

The prosecution statement also said that, in early August 2003, Haroun gave a speech in the town of Mukjar where he stated that "since the children of the Fur had become rebels, all the Fur and what they had, had become booty" of the Militia/Janjaweed. After he left, the town was attacked.

These allegations have been made against a man who is responsible for clearing up the humanitarian mess left - and still being created - by conflict and violence in Darfur.

"The indictment of Haroun is particularly significant since his department controls NGO and media access to Darfur," James Smith, the chief executive of the Aegis Trust, an organisation that campaigns against genocide, told the Irish Times. "That a man suspected of a key role in orchestrating crimes against humanity in Darfur is now the man deciding who will be allowed to do what to alleviate the resulting suffering is the height of cynicism."

Recently, I was at a seminar where a Western journalist who'd just returned from Darfur and Sudanese members of the audience suggested they didn't think the main priority of government staff dealing with international aid agencies and media wanting to work in Darfur was to make their lives easy. Many journalists and aid workers tell tales of the bureacratic hurdles they face in getting on the ground in the strife-town west.

Nonetheless, it doesn't look as though Haroun's indictment by the ICC will lead to him losing his job as humanitarian affairs minister.

After the court's announcement, Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi told reporters in Khartoum: "All the evidence the prosecutor referred to is lies given to him by people who bear arms against the state, bear arms against citizens and kill innocent citizens in Darfur." He added that Haroun had been interviewed by Sudanese judicial authorities and cleared of any wrongdoing.

Not only will a man accused of war crimes by one of the world's top courts likely remain in charge of the fate of the people whose lives he is alleged to have made a misery. To make matters worse, Sudan expert Eric Reeves told Inter Press Service he's concerned the ICC's move could provoke "increased hostility and recklessness on the part of the regime, especially toward international humanitarian agencies" active in Darfur.

To quote Morissette's song once again: "Who would have thought... it figures."

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