Sudan rejects to hand over citizens to ICC over Darfur
March 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday reiterated that Sudan will not hand over any Sudanese for trial abroad by international courts, such as the ICC which this week accused two Sudanese over Darfur atrocities.
“(The) Sudanese judiciary is honest and qualified to try any Sudanese” who commit crimes against humanity, the president was quoted as saying by the official SUNA news agency during a visit to the Kordufan region, some 750 kilometers (470 miles) southwest of Khartoum.
“The government will not hand over any citizen for trial outside the country,” said al-Bashir.
Sudan faces intense pressure over Darfur after the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands, this week accused a junior Cabinet minister and a member of the security forces of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur, the conflict-ridden region in western Sudan. Sudan has denied the accusations.
Al-Bashir lashed out at those who “committed crimes against the Iraqi people, who are being killed, displaced and their infrastructure destroyed at the hands of the alliance forces” — a reference to U.S.-led troops in Iraq. Those perpetrators have “to be brought before courts of law and find prompt justice,” al-Bashir said.
In Sudan, “anyone who makes a mistake will be held responsible for it, but we are not going to take any dictates from abroad,” the agency also quoted al-Bashir as saying.
The ICC prosecutor accused a minister and a member of the security forces of a combined 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their actions in Darfur. Sudan’s government has rejected the allegations and said it would not hand over the two men for trial.
The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African tribesmen took up arms against what they saw as decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab government in Khartoum. The government responded with a counter-insurgency campaign.
Arab militias known as the janjaweed committed widespread rape, looting and killing. An International Criminal Court prosecutor said the janjaweed was armed and financed by the Sudanese government, a charge Khartoum has always denied.
More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million people have been displaced in four years of Darfur fighting.
The Sudanese leader’s comments come a day after a U.S. envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios arrived in Khartoum for talks with officials on the Darfur crisis and how to bring more rebel factions which did not sign last year’s peace deal in Abuja, Nigeria, to the negotiating table.
SUNA described Natsios’ meeting Saturday with the No. 2 in the ruling National Congress Party, Nafie Ali Nafie, as reflecting “rapprochement of viewpoints between the two sides” to speed up the political process. Nastios is also expected to visit Darfur, as well as Juba, the southern capital, during his seven-day trip.
(AP)