Sudan brushes off calls for a regional court to try Darfur suspects
July 23, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government denied today that it has agreed to setting up a regional court to prosecute Darfur war crimes suspects.
One of the suggestions by the Arab League chief was for Sudan to accept an African court to look into Darfur right abuses under ICC supervision.
But the Sudanese justice minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat said that Khartoum had not accepted “a regional court in Sudan or any foreign trials”.
“Sudanese courts are capable to carry out its duties and it is open for anyone to attend” Sabdarat said.
The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked pre-trial judges last week to issue arrest warrants for Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.
Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir’s arrest.
The Arab League said today that Sudan agreed to set up local courts for Darfur war crimes “with guarantees for a fair trial” before saying that Khartoum would chose who to investigate.
But there was no word on whether two suspects already named by the ICC would be brought before court.
The judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region last year.
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 must prosecute Haroun and Kushayb for the same accusations brought against them by the ICC in order for the latter to lose jurisdiction over their cases.
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.
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”.
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”.
In June Amin Hassan Omar, a leading figure in the National Congress Party (NCP) and a state minister also confirmed Kushayb’s release.
The Justice Minister Sabdarat said that Sudanese president suggested to Moussa that a tripartite delegation from UN, Arab League and African Union would visit Sudan and examine the judiciary.
A major problem posed by national proceedings in Sudan is that the penal code does not include punishment for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. Moreover Sudanese military officials enjoy immunity from prosecution for acts committed during their course of duty.
The Arab League official appeared optimistic that the proposed plan would resolve the standoff between Khartoum and the ICC.
“In light of all these steps, it is expected that we would be going to the Security Council to ask the Security Council to defer the process initiated by the ICC” Youssef said.
Article 16 of the ICC Statue states that “no investigation or prosecution may be commenced or proceeded with under this Statute for a period of 12 months after the Security Council, in a resolution adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, has requested the Court to that effect; that request may be renewed by the Council under the same conditions”.
The African Union (AU) this week asked the UNSC to invoke article 16 of Rome Statue and suspend any indictment of Sudan’s head of state.
But the request got cool reception from some members of the UNSC.
The French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert said that the UNSC “should not interfere with the due process of law in terms of letting the ICC do its work”.
“We remind the authorities in Khartoum that they have some obligations and commitments vis-à-vis the UNSC which repeatedly asked for their cooperation with the ICC and it is not too late for them to cooperate” he added.
Asked to comment on the African and Arab bloc at the UN requests to suspend indictment, the French diplomat said he respects AU decision but scathingly dismissed any imminent decision on the matter.
“They can do whatever they wish. It is a free country. As soon as they find a country to do it we will look into it” Ripert said.
The US envoy at the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said that he does not expect UNSC action on suspension “in the foreseeable future” and added that “there should be no impunity”.
Another US official echoed Khalilzad’s remarks.
“We strongly support holding accountable those who are responsible for genocide in Darfur,” Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, told The Associated Press on Monday.
It is widely expected that China and Russia would back such a step but neither have tabled a formal resolution.
However to gain an agreement within the UNSC, Sudan’s allies China and Russia must ensure that US, UK and France will not use the veto power to block a resolution on suspension.
But Russia’s U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Monday that his country would not initiate such a resolution saying other countries are better suited to push it.
He also declined to explicitly voice support for such a resolution but said that it is “worth considering”.
Russia has voted in favor of resolution 1593 in March 2005 referring Darfur situation to the ICC.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UNSC invoked 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.
The United Nations has said 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.
(ST)