Darfur rebels reject African request to delay indictment of Sudan President

February 1, 2009 (PARIS) — The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) rejected African Union call to delay the indictment of the Sudanese President the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying “justice encourages peace and not hindering it.”

The chairman of the African Union Commission for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra said last Friday that African foreign ministers in a meeting held in Addis Abab unanimously supported the delay of Al-Bashir’s indictment for one year. The AU official said the purpose of this measure is to encourage the achievement of peace in Darfur.

“The unfortunate Lamamra’s statement gives the impression that the African Union supports the genocide conducted by the Sudanese government in Darfur. More, it makes the AU accomplice of this abject crime,” said the founder of the SLM Abdel Wahid Al-Nur.

He further said the ICC remains the sole hope for Darfur people to stop the crimes committed by the Sudanese government in Darfur. “since the referral of Darfur crimes to the ICC, the Sudanese officials understood that the court would engage their individual responsibility and they started to think twice,” he stressed.

In March 2005, the UN Security Council referred Darfur crimes to the ICC under Resolution 1593 because it considered the situation in Sudan a threat to international peace and security. The resolution urged all states to cooperate fully with the court.

In April 2007, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for a state minister, Ahmed Harun, and Janjaweed commander Ali Kushyb. But Khartoum refused to deliver them to the ICC. In July 2008, the Chief Prosecutor indicted the Sudanese President of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The rebel leader said that the ICC is dealing with the legal and not political aspect of Darfur crimes and urged the AU leaders “once for all” to not support politically the “genocidaires of Darfur” but “they can send lawyers to defend him in The Hague,” he said.

The rebel leader who is widely supported by the displaced in the camps, said he received “angry and sad reactions” from the IDPs against the AU resolution and reminded the African leaders that Darfur people are citizens of the African Union and they have “certain duty toward them.”

The U.N. says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.7 million fled their homes since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003. Sudan disputes the figures and says 10,000 only have been killed.

The conflict began when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.

(ST)