Darfur refugees named their children Okampo – Farrow

June 5, 2009 (UNITED NATIONS) – Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad have named their children “Okambo” as a tribute to the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, actress Mia Farrow said on Friday.

“I’ve met at least 100 babies named Ocampo,” Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, told reporters following a U.N. Security Council meeting on Darfur. “They spell it Okambo. … So the name has been Africanized.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March, charging him with masterminding mass killings and deportations in Darfur in western Sudan.

The Sudanese government has rejected Moreno-Ocampo’s charges and is refusing to cooperate with the court saying Sudan is a state party to Rome Statue.

Moreno-Ocampo was at the United Nations to update the Security Council on activities related to the Bashir case and five others he has submitted to the court on possible war crimes in Darfur.

Farrow told reporters that the Sudanese refugees had said they do not believe there can be any just of lasting peace with the President Omer Al-Bashir.

When they heard the indictment of Al-Bashir they were dancing and singing, she said.

Farrow had been in eastern Chad early this year. Also she went on a 12-day hunger strike in April and May to show solidarity with the people of Darfur.

(ST)