INTERVIEW: Sudan ‘covering up’ crimes in Darfur-ICC prosecutor
By Wasil Ali
June 5, 2008 (NEW YORK) – The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) pointed fingers at the Sudanese government and accused it of mobilizing “the whole state apparatus” to commit crimes in Darfur.
The Argentinean born lawyer also informed the UNSC of his intention to file charges against unidentified Sudanese officials a in a few weeks time. The ICC conducted its investigation without going on the ground in Darfur because of the security situation and the inability to protect witnesses and their families there.
But Ocampo told Sudan Tribune in an interview that he has enough evidence to proceed before the judges next month.
“We have strong evidence. We never move without overwhelming evidence” he said.
The low-key prosecutor stressed that he collected evidence from different sources including the Sudanese government which has refused to cooperate with his office since the issuance of arrest warrants in May 2007 against Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb.
“I have a duty to do an impartial investigation so I got information from a number of sources including the government of Sudan, the Attorney general in Khartoum and the suspects. I have all sorts of evidence. I have insiders, witnesses, victims and UN reports. There are tons of documents” Ocampo said.
“You cannot commit these types of crimes in the entire Darfur region and pretend you can hide these crimes” he added.
But the prosecutor acknowledged that arresting the suspects would be a difficult task. The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir told the visiting UNSC delegation in Khartoum today that he has no intention of cooperating with the ICC. The two suspects Haroun and Kushayb are still at large.
One of the tactics deployed by Ocampo in the cases of Uganda, the Congo and Central African Republic is the issuance of secret arrest warrants which boosts chances that the suspects would be arrested. In late May the ICC managed to nab the former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba in Belgium. Bemba’s arrest warrant was not made public until he was actually arrested.
However Ocampo made it clear that he does not intend to mimic the same approach in the coming case next month.
“The second case will be a public application. I think it is important to be transparent and clear in what happened. The Judges will decide the merits of this case” he said.
The ICC is also working on a fourth case against Darfur rebels attacking peacekeepers and aid workers. However he said the case is not complete yet.
Last September armed raiders overran the African Union (AU) base in the southern Darfur town of Haskanita killing 10 AU peacekeepers and injuring many others.
“We are still working on the Haskanita case and getting information about the rebel commanders involved so we can confirm the information. I don’t have enough evidence to go to the judges but I am collecting information” he said.
“I am also considering other crimes against aid workers and peacekeepers and maybe I can add other incidents. We are still doing the investigation and not ready to go to trial” Ocampo added.
HAROUN’S CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
The first suspect named in the Darfur case Ahmed Haroun seemed to be the main focus of Ocampo when talking to world officials.
Haroun has been promoted by the Sudanese government and was given more responsibilities, particularly handling the relationship with the Southern ex-rebels. The Sudanese TV has also tended to focus the cameras on Haroun in any public event he attends.
Even today the Sudanese minister was supposed to attend meeting between President Al-Bashir and the UNSC delegation but was a no-show.
“From the beginning I focused on those who are most responsible. In first case evidence showed Haroun as the most responsible because he was the head of the ‘Darfur Security Desk’ He coordinated the activities of Ali Kushayb and others” Ocampo said.
Haroun, who was also the state minister for interior, denied any wrongdoings and dismissed the case against him as ‘political’ and that he had a clear conscience. He also said that he is prepared to stand before the world court if his government asked him to.
Ocampo took Haroun’s remarks at face value and called on him to surrender himself to the ICC and guaranteed him a fair trial.
Haroun is wanted by the ICC for 42 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The judges they found ‘reasonable evidence to believe’ that he was responsible for persecuting, raping, attacking and killing civilians in four western Darfur villages in 2003 and 2004.
It was also reported that his family was shocked when his name came out as a war crimes suspect and that friends and relatives flocked to his home in Khartoum to offer what almost appeared to be condolences.
No extra security measures have been placed on Haroun since the ICC arrest warrants. Last year Haroun’s cell phone was stolen during a wedding he was attending in Khartoum.
HAROUN’S ESCAPE ATTEMPT
The ICC prosecutor also made the breathtaking disclosure that his office was close to arresting Haroun last December.
Earlier this year a well placed source in Khartoum told Sudan Tribune that Haroun, wanted to fly to Saudi Arabia on a forged passport.
Haroun ended up cancelling his travel plans after the Sudanese government found out, the source added.
Ocampo confirmed this piece of information and revealed more details on the Haroun’s travel plans.
“We were getting ready to divert his plane” he said.
Asked whether he had received help from other states in his attempt to arrest the Sudanese minister, Ocampo said “Absolutely. This is a UNSC resolution so all countries have a duty to support”. However he declined to name these countries.
“Some countries were willing to support and provide information on Haroun [travel] plans. We organized the logistics. Everything was settled” he said.
Ocampo said the Saudi Arabian government was aware of the plans to divert Haroun’s plane.
“The Saudis were informed. We respect states so the information was clear to them. They knew about this” he said.
“As soon as Haroun leaves Sudan he will be arrested. He is a fugitive. Inside Sudan he could have freedom. Outside Sudan he will be in jail” the ICC Prosecutor said.
Ocampo said he is receiving help from countries in tracing the Haroun and Kushayb as to “when they are moving and where are they moving”.
The prosecutor did not rule out the possibility that Haroun might make further attempts to travel abroad.
“He [Haroun] has medical problems so he could attempt. He sometimes he needs to go outside using different passports” he said.
The Sudanese official was in Jordan, the only Arab country who is party to the ICC, for medical treatment when the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo publicly announced charges against him in February 2007. The Sudanese minister returned immediately to Khartoum that day.
Last September Haroun told daily Al-Rayaam newspaper that he is not concerned about the International Police (INTERPOL) red notices distributed worldwide asking for his arrest and he will travel if needed.
ICC INVESTIGATION DANGER TO PEACE IN DARFUR?
Sudan’s U.N. ambassador Abdel-Mahmood Mohamad today lashed out at the ICC prosecutor and accused him of being a threat to peace in Darfur.
“Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan,” Mohamad said.
The Sudanese diplomat has been one of the most outspoken critics of Ocampo and one point called for him to be tried in a court of law.
“This is very serious and we hold him accountable and responsible for destroying the peace process in our country,” Mohamad said. “It revealed his professional bankruptcy, he deserves no respect, not to say cooperation, because we are not going to cooperate with him in any form,” he said.
But Ocampo rejected Mohamad’s claims saying that the crimes committed are the obstacle to peace.
“The main obstacle for peace in Darfur today is the crimes that are being committed and also the criminals who committed crimes in positions like Haroun. They are the main obstacle” he said.
“While it is important to provide aid and peacekeepers, we have to be sure that people like Haroun are arrested. If we don’t get rid of the arsonists there will never be enough number of firefighters. The arsonists today are in charge of the fire so we try to arrest them” he added.
COVER-UP AND RESPONSIBILITY OF SUDAN GOVERNMENT
In his report to the UNSC, Ocampo made his harshest condemnation of Khartoum saying that he collected evidence of a “criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system”.
The ICC official also said that his office is investigating who “is maintaining Haroun in a position to commit crimes; who is instructing him and others”.
The statements by Ocampo were taken to suggest that he is going after senior Sudanese officials.
“When you use the state apparatus to commit crimes you are giving instructions to public servants. They have to be sure they will protect them because they are asking them to do something illegal. The state apparatus requires protection. In this sense protection could be used to establish legal responsibility” Ocampo said.
The prosecutor went on to explain the concept of cover up in the case of Darfur by giving an example of an incident that happened in Argentina during the 70’s to two French nuns who disappeared during the rule of the military Junta.
“The navy officers abducted the nuns and they took pictures of them with a sign of the guerilla behind them and they took statements from the guerilla leaders saying they abducted the nuns. This lie was not a mistake. It is a cover up [by government]” he said.
“For example last January when a UN convoy was shot at in Darfur, the Sudanese UN ambassador said that it was the rebels. In Khartoum they said no it was the government. All the state is part of the cover-up. They are minimizing the numbers of rapes and pretend that peacekeepers deployment is moving smoothly. This is all not correct” he added.
But while Ocampo recognized that he can’t charge the whole system and that he is focusing on
“few people who are most responsible”.
“The rest will take many years. We start with the most responsible” he stressed.
UN & INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO THE ICC
Last October Ocampo criticized the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for neglecting the issue of justice in his monthly reports on Sudan.
“Justice was not mentioned in the UNSG subsequent reports on Darfur where the UN secretariat developed a three prong approach with a humanitarian, political and security components only” Ocampo said in prepared remarks to the 11th diplomatic briefing at the ICC headquarters in the Hague.
But today Ocampo hailed the efforts of the UN chief on the issue of extraditing the war crimes suspects.
“The Secretary General was very active on this issue and as you know he raised it with President Al-Bashir personally. I think he made great effort.”
The prosecutor also hailed the encouraging remarks made by UNSC during his briefing today.
“At least 9 of the UNSC members were very open and strong about the need to send a clear message that Sudan has to cooperate with the court”.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council (UNSC) invoked the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.
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