ICC monitoring movements of Darfur war crimes suspect
March 30, 2008 (THE HAGUE) — The International Criminal Court (ICC) is monitoring the activities of a Darfur war crime suspect within Sudan, a senior court official said.
“RFA’s on the tracing of Haroun and on his activities within the Sudan have been and will be sent. I urge States Parties to give them their utmost attention and to contact my Office should they have questions” Ocampo said.
The judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region in early May.
The warrants were issued for Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far rejected handing over the two suspects.
The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) circulated a notice for the arrest of both suspects in mid-2007.
Ocampo said that he is pushing world countries to assist in the arrest of the Darfur war crime suspects including those who are not members of the court.
“Our principal objective is to make sure that the issue of enforcement of the arrest warrants is not put off the agenda of relevant international meetings” he said.
The prosecutor also urged countries to press Sudan on extraditing the suspects to the ICC. He mentioned that only one country did that so far but did not name it.
The Argentinean born prosecutor has been pressing countries publicly and behind the scenes to press Sudan on the issue of handing over the suspects but with little success.
He made a rare criticism of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon last October for neglecting the issue of justice in his monthly reports on Sudan.
“Justice was not mentioned in the UNSG subsequent reports on Darfur where the UN secretariat developed a three prong approach with a humanitarian, political and security components only” Ocampo said last year.
The ICC official said he travelled to Qatar, Egypt including a meeting with the Arab League, Jordan and that he plans a trip to Indonesia, a UN Security Council member, and Saudi Arabia shortly.
It is not clear why Ocampo plans to visit Saudi Arabia. The latter has distanced itself from the issue of the Darfur crisis and avoided any public remarks on the matter.
Last January well placed sources told Sudan Tribune that Haroun made a failed attempt the month before to travel to Saudi Arabia for annual Islamic pilgrimage on a forged passport.
The source said that Haroun wanted to use a fake passport with a different name for his planned trip in order to apply for a visa to enter Saudi Arabia. However he could not confirm if Haroun actually submitted a visa application to the Saudi consulate in Khartoum.
Haroun ended up cancelling his travel plans after the Sudanese government found out, the source added.
Ocampo said that the court requested an update from Sudan on “activities undertaken in the execution of the warrants and as to any difficulty which may have arisen” with a November 15 deadline but received no response from Khartoum.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council triggered the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict. The Sudanese government says 9,000 people have been killed.
(ST)