Sudan expert calls for ‘unconditional’ deferral of Bashir indictment
January 26, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — A leading Sudan expert called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to exercise its power and suspend any arrest warrant that may be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.
“My proposal is that the UN Security Council should invoke Article 16 without condition” De Waal said.
The international community is bracing for a decision by the ICC judges who are reviewing ten counts presented by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in mid-July that include three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder and accused Al-Bashir of masterminding a campaign to get rid of the African tribes in Darfur; Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.
A decision is widely expected to be made in the coming weeks.
Khartoum has failed to convince Western members at the UNSC to support a suspension under Article 16 of the Rome Statute despite intense diplomacy by Arab and African countries.
De Waal pointed out that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) “sees the ICC as the gravest threat to its survival it has ever faced and a matter of life and death”.
Sudanese officials have threatened unspecified retaliatory measures if the ICC judges endorse the charges against Bashir. They further said that Westerners could be targeted by “outlaws” following an arrest warrant.
The Sudan expert saw the recent upsurge in fighting in Darfur as being connected to the general atmosphere created by the ICC move.
“I think that there is sufficient threat to peace and security arising in the current situation for the Security Council to have reason to be seized of the matter” De Waal said.
“I do not support putting conditions on the Article 16 deferral. Using every opportunity for leverage on the Sudan Government is not a strategy but a habit, and in my view the absolute priority is to focus on the CPA and Sudan’s progress towards democracy and stability, and only when that objective is agreed does it make any sense to apply additional leverage” he added.
De Waal has been of the main critics of the ICC move saying it jeopardizes the North-South peace agreement signed in 2005 and may escalate the five years Darfur conflict.
(ST)