Sudan condemns remarks by UN Secretary General on ICC
August 12, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) – The Sudanese government responded angrily to statements by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in which he said that there should be no impunity for war crimes perpetrators in Darfur.
Ali al-Sadig, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman told the daily Al-Ahdath that “the UNSG should not have made such statements”.
“It would have been better for the UNSG to hold back and not make remarks that are offensive to UN member states” he added.
Ban’s statements came three weeks after the ICC’s prosecutor announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.
The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-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 UN Secretary General has also been reportedly advised by his legal advisers to “distance himself politically” from the Sudanese president.
Al-Sadig went to say that Sudan has the right to refuse the jurisdiction of the ICC “in the same way the UNSG speaks about a court that has no direct relations with the court”.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC invoked the provisions under the Statute 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)