Sudan says open to cooperation with ICC on national proceedings

June 19, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government is willing to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on conducting internal trials, a Sudanese official said today.

Amin Hassan Omar, a leading figure in the National Congress Party (NCP) and a state minister told the daily Al-Ahdath that Khartoum “is ready to cooperate with the ICC in its dialogue regarding the jurisdiction of national judiciary to prosecute [Darfur war crimes] suspects”.

The statements by the NCP official come a few days after the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir told the Al-Jazeera television in English dismissing reiterating his refusal to deal with the world court.

This week the UN Security Council (UNSC) and European Union (EU) issued formal statements voicing support for the work of court in Darfur. The EU threatened sanctions against individuals obstructing cooperation with the ICC.

Omar described the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo as a “small clown who is a political agent for the US”. He also denied reports that a faction within the NCP is looking for a settlement of the Darfur war crimes issue with the ICC.

The NCP official also lashed out at the Sudanese foreign minister Deng Alor for urging the government to comply with the UNSC resolution on the ICC.

“I am not talking as a minister of foreign affairs. In this particular issue I’m speaking as SPLM and SPLM calls for cooperation. That’s what I said in my briefing with the ambassadors,” Alor told reporters earlier this month on the sidelines of a visit by the UNSC to Khartoum.

Alor’s position angered NCP officials and some pro-government columnists accused him of straying from the government’s official position.

The issue of the ICC came to spotlight in Sudan following a report by its prosecutor to the UNSC in which he made his harshest condemnation of Khartoum.

Ocampo said that he collected evidence of a “criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system”.

He also said that his office is investigating who “is maintaining Haroun in a position to commit crimes; who is instructing him and others”.

The statements by Ocampo were taken to suggest that he is going after senior Sudanese officials.

The ICC also revealed that a plane carrying Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs was going to be diverted on its way to Saudi Arabia.

A year ago he judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants on the Darfur case against Haroun and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far rejected handing over the two suspects.

Omar also confirmed that Kushayb has been freed saying there was not enough evidence against him. He is the third government official to confirm Kushayb’s release amidst conflicting reports on his whereabouts.

Khartoum had long claimed that Kushayb was in custody since November 2006 for investigations into allegations of violations he committed during the peak of the Darfur conflict in 2004.

Kushayb has been nicknamed as the “Butcher of Darfur” by Darfur refugees and is alleged to have carried out mass executions against the African population in the area.

Sudan’s former Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi told a news conference in Khartoum in February 2007 that “Ali Kushayb, along with two other individuals, was sent for trial. He was detained as a suspect, questioned, his statements were evaluated and witness statements recorded, and then the decision was taken to refer him to court”.

But in March 2007 Kushayb’s trial was delayed when the defendants filed an appeal with the Justice ministry.

Shortly afterwards the Sudanese justice ministry ordered a ban on publishing reports or details relating to criminal cases on Darfur conflict and many observers at the time voiced skepticism over Khartoum’s seriousness to try perpetrators of crimes in the war ravaged region.

In early October Sudan’s former foreign minister Lam Akol told the pro-government daily Al-Rayaam from New York that Kushayb was freed “due to lack of incriminating evidence against him”.

However Al-Mardi issued a quick denial to the Al-Rayaam report describing it as “false” without directly commenting on Akol’s statements.

The former Justice Minister was asked again by Al-Rayaam last November on the whereabouts of Kushayb and he reiterated that the militia leader was “never released” before saying that he refrained from commenting on the issue “because it is under investigation”.

But last April the spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London, Khalid Al-Mubarak was quoted by Voice of America (VOA) as saying that Haroun and Kushayb were not prosecuted “because there is no evidence against them”.

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.

(ST)