ICC says Darfur evidence enough to prosecute
Nov 23, 2006 (THE HAGUE) — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has nearly completed an investigation into war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region and has sufficient evidence to file charges soon, he said on Thursday.
“Based on a careful and thorough source evaluation of all the evidence collected, we were able to identify the gravest incidents and some of those who could be considered to be the most criminally responsible,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a speech to the annual meeting of the court’s member states.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes in three years of conflict in Darfur, a remote region of western Sudan where the U.S. government says genocide is taking place. Khartoum rejects the charge.
Moreno-Ocampo said the crimes committed include persecution, torture, rape and murder, but did not say who might be charged. He said the conflict had made the work of his investigators very difficult, but they had still gathered enough evidence.
“We are very pleased with the news,” Richard Dicker of U.S. based Human Rights Watch told a news conference at the meeting.
“Especially given the context of ongoing horrific crimes being carried out both by the Sudanese armed forces and militia against innocent civilians who remain at risk of the kind of arbitrary killings, rapes, torture and mutilation that has characterised the conflict in Darfur,” he added.
The top U.N. humanitarian official accused Sudan on Wednesday of deliberately hindering relief aid in Darfur, attacking villages and arming Arab militia to combat rebels.
SUDAN’S OWN COURT
The United Nations, Sudan and the African Union (AU), which has fielded a 7,000-member force, agreed in principle last week on a beefed-up AU force with extensive U.N. support.
Sudan had previously ruled out a big U.N. role in Darfur, concerned that its forces may try to enforce ICC warrants.
Before the prosecution submits the evidence to ICC judges, the office of the prosecutor will assess whether Sudan’s government is conducting its own judicial proceedings on the same incidents and persons, Moreno-Ocampo said.
“I plan to have collected this information by the beginning of December,” he added.
Under the treaty that set up the ICC in 2002, the Hague-based court cannot prosecute suspects who have already been tried in fair trials in their home countries.
Human Rights Watch’s Dicker said Khartoum was just playing “lip-service” to justice with the court. His group says the court has tried cases involving ordinary crimes such as theft, unconnected to Darfur since it was formed in June 2005.
The ICC was set up as the first permanent global war crimes court to try individuals and issued its first warrants last year for leaders of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who have led a 20-year insurgency that has kills tens of thousands.
The LRA has signed a truce with the government but the LRA has repeatedly said it will not sign a final peace deal unless the ICC indictments against its leaders are dropped.
Moreno-Ocampo said the government of Uganda understood its obligations on arrest, including that of LRA leader Joseph Kony.
“In the past, Joseph Kony has used negotiations to buy time, regroup and attack again,” he said, adding arrests would “prevent recurrent violence and provide justice to the victims.”
“The victims have a right to peace, security and justice.”
Stephen Lamony, a representative from Ugandan civil society, said he agreed: “Moreno-Ocampo was right in saying that crimes have decreased … because the indicted have been made aware that they will be held responsible.”
(Reuters)