Sudan says African states to meet in October over ICC row
June 10, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The African states that have ratified the Rome Statute that forms the basis of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will meet in Uganda next October to discuss legal aspects of the treaty.
Sudan official news agency (SUNA) said that the conference was decided during a two-day meeting held this week in the Ethiopian capital aimed primarily at discussing the possibility of a mass withdrawal from the ICC.
However, the participants at the meeting refused to endorse a mass withdrawal as requested by Sudan, Libya, Senegal, Djibouti and Comoros Island.
SUNA reported that the African justice ministers expressed their rejection of the ICC arrest warrant issued for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir in connection with Darfur war crimes.
Furthermore, the agency said that legal experts from the African ICC states will meet in Kampala to discuss proposed revisions to the Rome Statute but did not provide details.
The Sudanese deputy mission head in Addis Ababa told SUNA that the justice ministers discussed the moves by the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
The outcome of the meeting dealt a severe diplomatic blow for Khartoum as it has lobbied its peers in the continent for months to withdraw from the ICC.
Some Sudanese officials have said that they hope such action would weaken The Hague based court.
The head of political affairs in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Mandoor Al-Mahdi told SUNA yesterday that he hoped that African countries will come up with a unified position on their ICC membership.
Al-Mahdi described the court as a “tool of neo-colonialism” and urged African states to rethink their relationship with international organizations.
The African Union (AU) have criticized the arrest warrant against Bashir saying it undermined peace process in the region while some African politicians accused the court of unfairly targeting its statesmen.
The AU summit last February has called on its members to consider withdrawing from the court in response to the indictment.
More than a dozen African NGO’s, human right advocates and legal figures sent a letter to the AU urging its members to support the court and voice any concerns they have through upcoming conferences on ICC assessment and review.
The letter also calls on expediting the establishment of an AU-ICC liaison office in Addis Ababa.
There are 30 African states that have ratified the Rome Statute making it the largest represented continent in the ICC.
The ICC is currently handling 4 cases consisting of Uganda, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Darfur.
With the exception of Darfur all other cases have been referred voluntarily by their respective governments to the ICC for investigation.
(ST)