ICC prosecutor says Darfur investigation ongoing

Feb 27, 2007 (THE HAGUE) — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said on Tuesday his investigation into crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region is continuing after he named the first two suspects accused of committing war crimes.

“The office is continuing to gather information about current crimes committed by all parties in Darfur and is monitoring the spill-over of violence into Chad … and the Central African Republic,” prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said.

Speaking at a news conference, the prosecutor said Chad and the Central African Republic were signatories to the court’s treaty, unlike Sudan, so he could launch an investigation there without a U.N. Security Council referral.

Asked if he expected to name further suspects, Moreno-Ocampo would only say that investigations were ongoing.

The U.N. Security Council asked the court in March 2005 to launch an investigation into the violence in Darfur, which the United States has called genocide. Khartoum denies the charge.

Experts say some 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million others driven from their homes in Darfur since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government, charging it with neglect. Khartoum says about 9,000 people have died.

(Reuters)