SPLM official calls on Sudan to “deal legally” with ICC

By Wasil Ali

August 14, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – The Sudanese government must use legal means to counter a move by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, the southern ex-rebels said today.

“The government must utilize legal channels to deal with the ICC. Protests and rhetoric will not help resolving this issue” the governor of Southern Blue Nile state Malik Agar told Sudan Tribune by phone.

Agar said that Sudan has a “window of opportunity” to defuse the ICC row.

The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced in mid-July that he requested an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir.

Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.

The Al-Ahdath daily quoted Agar as condemning the ICC’s indictment of Al-Bashir and saying that it is targeting the country. Yesterday Al-Bashir visited Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile state.

But Agar, who is a member of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), denied making such statements and stressed that the legal option should be the way forward.

Yesterday an unidentified SPLM official unveiled a proposed roadmap aimed at blocking Al-Bashir’s indictment.

The SPLM roadmap consists of two separated approaches including judiciary and political.

On the judicial side the government would conduct national proceedings under international supervision. On the political front, Khartoum would take serious steps to negotiate a political solution with Darfur rebels.

But last month the Sudanese justice minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat said that Khartoum will not accept “a regional court in Sudan or any foreign trials”.

“Sudanese courts are capable to carry out its duties and it is open for anyone to attend” Sabdarat said.

Last week Sudan appointed a special prosecutor to look into rights abuses committed in war ravaged region of Darfur since 2003.

Sudan news agency (SUNA) said that the special prosecutor will report monthly on the progress of his work.

But several Sudanese political figures and lawyers criticized the move saying it is “belated”.

The ICC prosecutor told Sudan Tribune in an interview this week that Khartoum established special courts before but “end up investigating no one”.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC triggered the provisions under the Statute 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.

(ST)