US says its lawyers to review status of Sudan’s Bashir following indictment
March 4, 2009 (WASHINGTON) —The US State Department today declined to say how it will deal with Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir following his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) but said its lawyers would make that assessment.
Earlier today an official statement released by Acting Deputy US State department spokesman Gordon Duguid said that “those who have committed atrocities should be held accountable for their crimes.”
“Because we take the court’s actions very seriously, any official contacts with President Bashir would have to be carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis, very mindful of the indictment” he told reporters in Washington today.
Asked what the US course of action if Bashir was to land on its territory he responded by saying that he does not expect the Sudanese leader to make such a trip “anytime soon”.
In response to a question about Bashir attending UN summit in New York he said that “he would have to land at a US airport, but the UN has special arrangements”.
“The question of whether or not someone charged by the ICC shows up on U.S. soil, what is the U.S. response for that, I’ll have to ask our lawyers to provide me with an answer” Duguid said.
The US is not a party to the Rome Statute which forms the basis of the ICC and is therefore under no obligation to apprehend Bashir if present on its soil. However the Obama administration said it is reviewing whether or not it should join the court.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday if Sudan’s Bashir believed he had been wrongly charged for war crimes in Darfur he could “have his day in court”.
“President Bashir would have a chance to have his day in court if he believes that the indictment is wrongly charged. He can certainly contest it” said Clinton.
“I certainly hope that it does not lead to any additional actions of violence or punishment on the part of the Bashir government” she added.
Washington has unilaterally labeled the Darfur conflict genocide but did not name any individuals in connection with war crimes in the Western Sudan region.
UN experts estimate some 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes. Sudan blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.
(ST)