ICC urges UN chief to press Sudan to arrest war crimes suspects
August 30, 2007 (THE HAGUE) — The U.N. secretary-general should press Sudan to arrest two suspects – including a government minister – suspected of atrocities in Darfur and hand them to the International Criminal Court, the tribunal’s prosecutor has urged.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir needs to be told “there are two arrest warrants of the ICC outstanding, including one against a minister, that Sudan is a member of the United Nations and has the obligation to enforce these arrest warrants,” said Beatrice Le Fraper Du Hellen, who deals with the court’s relations with other countries.
More than 200,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been displaced in Sudan’s Darfur region since ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government in 2003, accusing it of discrimination. Sudan is accused of retaliating by unleashing Arab militias known as janjaweed responsible for much of the violence – an accusation the government denies.
Ban said he wants to visit Sudan to push the peace process, seek to get a 26,000-strong hybrid African Union-U.N. force on the ground quickly and press for delivery of humanitarian aid.
The Security Council adopted a resolution on July 31 authorizing the hybrid force to replace the beleaguered 7,000-strong AU force in Darfur by year’s end. The resolution was adopted after months of delay in getting agreement from the Sudanese government.
In May, the Hague-based court issued arrest warrants for Sudan’s humanitarian affairs minister, Ahmed Muhammed Harun, and Ali Kushayb, a janjaweed leader. The two men are suspected of involvement in the murder, rape, torture and persecution of civilians in Darfur.
It was the U.N. Security Council that asked Moreno-Ocampo to investigate atrocities in Darfur, and officials at the court want the world body to ensure the suspects are brought to justice.
Sudan hasn’t ratified the treaty that created the court and government officials have vowed not to hand over the men.
“Our position is very, very clear – the ICC cannot assume any jurisdiction to judge any Sudanese outside the country,” Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi said in May after the arrest warrants were publicized. “Whatever the ICC does, is totally unrealistic, illegal, and repugnant to any form of international law.”
While court officials steer clear of telling the U.N. how to push Sudan into cooperating with the court, the Security Council could impose sanctions on Khartoum for not arresting the suspects.
In his meeting with Ban, “Moreno-Ocampo very strongly emphasized that the U.N. has a responsibility legally and also morally to make the fight against impunity more than a concept. To make it a reality by helping to enforce the court’s decisions,” Le Fraper said.
Moreno-Ocampo also wants the push for international justice to be put on the agenda of a major conference on Darfur next month in New York.
This issue is particularly important, “because at the conference they want to address humanitarian issues and one of the indictees is (Sudan’s) humanitarian affairs minister,” said Le Fraper.
(AP)