France softens stance on ICC indictment of Sudan president
September 23, 2008 (NEW YORK) – The French government appeared to be taking a softer stance on the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Darfur after president Nicolas Sarkozy dropped the demand for extraditing two Sudanese suspects to the Hague.
Then later the French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters that Sudan may try Haroun and Kushayb internally with the consent of the ICC.
But Sarkozy speaking to reporters today at the UN headquarters in New York further watered down France’s demands with regards to the two suspects.
“We want those accused of genocide not to stay as ministers in a government in Sudan” Sarkozy said referring to Haroun.
Paris has been making conflicting statements over the last few weeks on their position with regards to invoking Article 16 of the Rome Statute which the UN Security Council (UNSC) to defer ICC investigations.
In mid-July the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant for 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. It was only last week that judges have started reviewing the case in a process that could possibly drag on to next year.
Sudan and a number of regional organizations including the African Union (AU), Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned Ocampo’s request and called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution deferring Al-Bashir’s indictment.
But the UNSC has been divided on the issue particularly the Western countries on the council hesitant to support such a move.
The French president today made it clear that his country will not support a deferral resolution unless certain conditions are met.
“France wants the Sudanese authorities to radically change their policies. It is now up to Mr. Al-Bashir to determine what exactly he wants” Sarkozy said.
“We want to deploy the international force in Darfur to stop the scandalous situation in which tens of thousands are dying in this part of Africa. We want peace in Sudan as well as peace and the territorial integrity of Chad… people in Darfur have the right to live and we cannot accept the situation as it is currently” he added.
Sarkozy warned Sudan that France wants to see concrete steps taken before it would support a suspension of ICC move.
“There would be no recourse to invoking Article 16 unless there is radical and immediate change in Sudanese policies” he said.
“If Sudanese authorities do change; totally change their policies then France would not be opposed to using Article 16” the French president added.
But Amnesty International lambasted efforts at the UNSC to block ICC charges against Al-Bashir.
“If attempts to block the ICC’s investigation of President Bashir succeed, it would set a dangerous precedent for others to try to undermine international law. It would send a message that the international community is not serious about ending impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes” said Amnesty International Executive Director Larry Cox.
Last week the French-Libyan born counsel Dr. Hadi Shalluf called Paris’s position as a “blatant interference in the judicial process”.
Shalluf, who is also a member of Sarkozy’s ruling party, said that “This is a serious violation of the European Union (EU) laws for a government to try and influence a court of law”.
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.
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Michael Davies
Message to Amnesty International
The argument made Amnesty International (and the lawyer Dr. Hadi Shalluf) that invoking Article 16 of the Rome Statute somehow ‘undermines’ or ‘interferes with’ the judicial process is just facile.
Article 16 is part of the ICC rules – so how can it undermine the court if the rule is invoked? Article 16 allows for a delay in the proceedings of 12 months… not a pardon. It does this because in the complexity of the real world there can be more than one important thing at a time. In Sudan’s case, some important things include the maintenance of relative peace, the path to democracy and an independence referendum, and recovery and development – and these objectives are also reflected in Security Council resolutions (the ones that authorise UN missions in Sudan). Article 16 reflects the idea that there must sometimes be a way of dealing with objectives that are in conflict. Simply mouthing platitudes like ‘no peace without justice’ trivialises the situation. There is a danger that Sudan will become an even more extreme and isolated security state and the hesitant direction established since 2005 will go into reverse. If threatened by regime-change through international judicial intervention, they have strong incentives to shut out the world and lock down Sudan – quite possibly leading to a resumption of civil war if the situation becomes unstable.
In the extremely unusual case where the ICC takes on a sitting head of state, there are bound to be many wider risks and consequences. No-one should regard this as an easy decision for the Security Council – it is inherently difficult. But that is why we have a body like this.
So my message to Amnesty is start thinking about the welfare of real people in Sudan. Remember that Bashir can face justice in 2012 or later if necessary – and that it is not unusual for indicted war criminals to come to justice many years after the fact. Even if an arrest warrant is issued he’s hardly likely to walk into a police station and hand himself over… so don’t expect to see him in court for some time anyway. The prosecutor’s case has done plenty to signal to tyrants everywhere that they are vulnerable.
The Article 16 debate is about timing, and now is a bad time to try to lift the President of Sudan. In fact a deferral offers the opportunity to lock them in to peace processes in Darfur and nationwide.
Finally, take a hard look at what this action is doing to the reputation of the ICC in Africa. And be worried about that. Push any intergovernmental system beyond what a sizeable majority of states believe to be right – and what happens? What happens is that the system breaks, not that the majority just go along with it.
Chier Akueny
France softens stance on ICC indictment of Sudan president
France must know all the attrocities Bashir’s government has committed to the Sudan citizens in South Sudan and now in Darfur. Bashir has no spirit of sparing the lives of innocent people as he acts brutally to the populations of Sudan.
Bashir’s government makes state to be more failed and corrupt state and mostly brutal state among the republics of Africa. He also a tyrant leader who rule only by the laws of “Ala wakubar” and it doesn’t mean all the population of Sudan have to know their way and system of honouring God. There are pagans, Christians, non religious and those of traditional prospective who just accomplish their lives in traditional way of lives. Government of should be separate from religious directives and to be neutral to the laws of religions. So, the government of Sudan is not practicing these systems of democratic world.
France should not block the indictment of Sudan top officials any more because the suffering people only are the citizens of Sudan.
Thanks
Chier Akueny, Member of Tens States of South Sudan.