US views ICC warrant for Sudan’s Bashir as his ‘last chance’
February 28, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The US is willing to consider supporting a suspension of International Criminal Court (ICC) move against Sudan president but views it his last chance according to a news report.
On Wednesday March 4th the ICC judges will release their decision on a case submitted by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo against Bashir accusing him of masterminding a campaign to get rid of the African tribes in Darfur; Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.
A US official speaking to Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity said that Washington plans to leverage on the expected arrest warrant for Bashir.
“They are going to use the arrest warrant like a loaded gun, but not fire it” the official said.
“It’s a way to say, ‘Here is your last chance’” he added.
Despite the US long standing opposition to The Hague based court it supported the ICC investigations in the war ravaged region of Darfur.
Following an application by the ICC prosecutor there has been intense debate on whether the UN Security Council should use it power to suspend the indictment.
However the US emerged as the unlikely opponent of any such move.
“If asked—if forced to vote today—the United States, even if it was 191 countries against one, would veto an Article 16 [resolution],” Ambassador Richard Williamson, the former US special envoy to Sudan said at a hearing of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom last year.
Some Western countries such as France and UK have suggested that if Sudan was to take concrete steps towards halting in Darfur it may support a suspension.
The US official told LA Times that if Sudan was to replace Bashir or agree to unspecified reforms then they will not block an Article 16 resolution.
But the former US special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios warned against such a maneuver.
“We are assuming that they will become more rational” he said. “But they become more inflexible, more confrontational and more brutal the more they are cornered” he said.
“We could end up with another Rwanda or Somalia or Democratic Republic of Congo in which hundreds of thousands of people could be killed” he said. “We could end up with something much worse”.
But John Prendergast from ENOUGH project combating genocide and a nominee for the post of Sudan’s special envoy said that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) tends to be rational when confronted.
“They are going to have a serious debate about whether the interests of the ruling party are best served by having [an accused] war criminal as president” Prendergast said, predicting Bashir would be nudged aside and offered asylum outside the country.
Earlier this month the daily Al-Hayat newspaper quoting Arab diplomatic sources that an unspecified number of Arab countries are working on creating an acceptable offer to Bashir that would convince him to be hosted by them in return for protection from judicial prosecution.
Some sources in the Sudanese capital have said that the Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah offered to host Bashir during their meeting last November to avoid the complications of an ICC arrest warrant.
However Sudanese officials including the powerful presidential assistant Nafi Ali Nafi have denied any intention of accepting such a plan.
Bashir is the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) candidate for the upcoming presidential elections that are due to be held this year.
(ST)