No position taken on ICC Darfur warrant: AU panel

July 11, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — A Darfur panel formed by the African Union (AU) last February, denied that they have made any formal position on the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese figures.

On Friday, Reuters quoted the panel head Thabo Mbeki as saying that the three individuals indicted by the ICC must stand before court and defend themselves.

“The consensus reached is that those charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity should appear in court and defend themselves,” he said. “The warrant has been issued. There is nothing that can be done.” Reuters reported.

However, the AU commission issued a statement on Saturday describing the Reuters report as “completely false and highly irresponsible”.

“No member of the Panel has made any such pronouncement. Indeed, no member of the Panel could make any such pronouncement as the Panel has not yet completed its work” the statement read.

Reuters issued a corrected version of the original report stating that the AU panel made no determination on the ICC Darfur warrants.

However, the news agency left the quotations attributed to Mbeki without changes.

Yesterday a senior official at the African Union – United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) who asked not be named told Sudan Tribune that the report created “a great deal of tension and fear of backlash”.

The eight-member commission was established by the AU last February in response to the imminent issuance of arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir which came a month later.

The AU criticized the arrest warrant and last week the summit in Sirte, Libya decided that its who are ICC members not to cooperate in apprehending the Sudanese president despite their legal obligations to do so.

Multiple sources told Sudan Tribune that Mbeki has lobbied intensely to prevent the Sirte summit from endorsing the Libyan backed proposal arguing that it will undermine the work of his commission.

The panel acknowledged in its statement that “some of the interested parties with whom the Panel has met had called for ICC trials”.

The delivery of the panel’s report to the AU was delayed from July until September.

Yesterday Mbeki speaking from the Ethiopian capital said that the panel is working within the AU public position calling for deferring Bashir’s indictment.

“Our principal — the body that formed us (AU) — has said ‘delay the serving of those warrants’,” Mbeki said according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

“We will address the justice issue in a comprehensive manner that has been suggested by our interlocutors,” he added during a press conference at the AU’s headquarters.

The former South African president added that the issue of justice needed different handling than the ICC.

“Of course there are people who are saying… that people who have been charged by the ICC should indeed appear before the ICC,” he said.

“But the central issue is that everybody agrees that this matter of justice is important and has to be addressed in different ways with a different sort of intervention,” he said.

Some critics have said that the AU panel is trying to protect Bashir from prosecution. The AU decision last week was condemned by Darfur rebels and human right organizations as condoning impunity.

The panel’s mandate has not been made public but it includes assessing Sudanese judiciary as well as reconciliation and compensation mechanisms.

(ST)