Rebels blast complicity of Arab ministers over Darfur crimes
October 13, 2008 (LONDON) — Darfur Justice and Equality Movement has slammed the Arab justice ministers failure to condemn crimes committed by the Sudanese government in Darfur saying they “supposed to be justice people”
In a meeting held yesterday in Cairo, the Arab justice ministers have voiced their support to Sudan in face of an indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. The top Arab legal officials meeting in Cairo denounced what they described as “attempts to politicize the principles of international justice”.
“The Arab Justice minsters failed even for lip services to condemn the acts of violence or the crimes that committed in Darfur.” said Ahmed Hussein Adam the spokesperson of the rebel movement.
He further said that it is not enough for them to just say the ICC measures are politically motivated, “they supposed to be legal people, justice people.”
“The ICC is not Occampo creation; it is humanity creation to fight impunity.” He added.
The ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. In early October ICC judges have officially started reviewing the case in a process that could possibly drag on to next year.
Also the ICC had, in a first case, issued an arrest warrant for a Sudanese state minister Ahmed Haroun and a militia leader, Ali Kushayb. However, Sudan rejects any cooperation with the world court saying it is not party in Rome Statue.
Sudan Justice Minister Abdel Bassit Sabdarat told reporters in Cairo that a special prosecutor, that he appointed recently, is nearly finished with a number of reports on unspecified crimes committed in Darfur.
The ICC Statute prevents investigation into crimes that were looked into by local judiciary under the concept of “complementarity”. However Sudanese legal system is not equipped to handle genocide and war crime trials. 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.
The rebel official further said that the Arab minsters failed to show their commitments to international justice.
He also stressed that in the 21st Century sovereignty shouldn’t be an excuse for perpetrating genocide and gross violations of human rights. “Sovereignty is for the people and not for the perpetrators; sovereignty has to be linked with the responsibility.”
(ST)