Rights watchdog criticize Turkey’s hosting of Sudan president

August 14, 2008 (NEW YORK) – The Turkish government should not support Sudan in its attempts to secure a suspension of the indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudan president, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

Turkey will be hosting the Turkey-African summit which takes place next week in Ankara. This will be the first time the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir will set foot outside his country since his indictment by the ICC’s prosecutor.

In the statement HRW “expressed concern that Turkey chose to welcome al-Bashir”.

“The Turkish government should reject efforts by Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir to secure a suspension of the International Criminal Court’s investigation against him” the rights watchdog said.

The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced in mid-July that he requested an arrest warrant against 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 African Union, Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) called for invoking Article 16 which allows the UN Security Council (UNSC) to suspend the ICC prosecutions in any case for a period of 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely.

But Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at HRW said that “to suspend the ICC investigation in response to Khartoum’s outrageous threats and empty promises would be to betray the victims in Darfur”.

HRW also said that any suspension “could set a dangerous precedent… It indicates that those responsible for international crimes can use threats to secure the Security Council’s assistance in ensuring their impunity”.

NATO-member Turkey is not party to the Rome Statute of the ICC at present. Moreover even ICC member states have no obligation to apprehend Al-Bashir since the judges did not approve an arrest warrant yet.

Al-Bashir’s state visit to Ankara last January had been the focus of rights groups, who criticized the visit and called on Turkish leaders to press the Sudanese president to end ongoing bloodshed and abuses in Darfur region.

However during the recent years, Turkey has increasingly developed its commercial and military cooperation with Sudan.

Last year bilateral trade volume reached 225 million USD. Moreover, Turkish direct investments in Sudan have amounted to nearly 50 million USD (disregarding the Turkish firms operating in contracting and consulting), according to the Turkish foreign ministry website.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UNSC triggered 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)