Sudan refuses questioning of top official over Darfur
March 26, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir refused Monday to have a top official suspected by the International Criminal Court of war crimes in Darfur questioned or relieved of his duties.
Ahmed Haroun, the current secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, “will not resign or be fired and will not be interrogated,” Beshir told the independent daily Al-Sudani.
The president’s remarks came after last week’s announcement by Sudan’s general prosecutor that Haroun would be questioned over crimes in the troubled western Sudanese region, despite having been earlier cleared of any wrongdoing by the Sudanese judiciary.
“The former secretary of state for interior was only performing his duty to defend the citizens and their property from the aggressors at the time of the events (in 2003-2004),” Beshir said.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol echoed the president’s comments at an Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Riyadh.
The ICC “has no right to put any Sudanese citizen on trial” for alleged war crimes in Darfur, Akol said.
In February, ICC prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo accused Haroun and a local militia leader of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes — including murder, torture and mass rape.
Khartoum reacted to the ICC’s move by insisting that its judiciary was fully competent to handle the cases, rejecting the legitimacy of any foreign court to try Sudanese nationals.
Beshir described the ICC’s decision as “cheap political bargaining and a way to impose UN Security council resolutions on Sudan.”
He said cooperating with the ICC would amount to “helping the enemy to dismantle the country and to hit at its stability.”
The United Nations has sought to deploy a peacekeeping force to take over from an embattled African Union force but Beshir has consistently rejected such a move.
According to the United Nations, at least 200,00O people have died and more than two million been displaced since the conflict erupted in Darfur in February 2003. Some sources say the death toll is much higher.
(AFP)