Arab League slams ICC decision on to review Sudan’s genocide charges
February 6, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Arab League slammed on Saturday the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to reconsider genocide charge against Sudanese President Omer al- Bashir terming it as “unacceptable.”
“This action hampers the ongoing African and Arab efforts to promote peace process in Sudan,” said Cairo based Arab organization. The statement also called to provide an opportunity for the implementation of the recommendations of the High-level African Union led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki about peace and reconciliation, justice and accountability,
The recommendations of the African Union High Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD) are widely supported by Arab, African countries and China.
The AUPD has stated last December in its report that the Sudanese criminal justice response to Darfur was “ineffective and confusing” and that it “failed to obtain the confidence of the people of Darfur”.
The panel called for a “hybrid Criminal Court which shall exercise original and appellate jurisdiction over individuals who appear to bear particular responsibility for the gravest crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur, and to be constituted by judges of Sudanese and other nationalities”.
The African Union last Friday said the recent ICC decision against Bashir harm’s Sudan’s peace process, stressing “the search for justice should be pursued in a manner not detrimental to the search for peace. The latest decision by the ICC runs in the opposite direction,” the pan-African body said in a statement at the end of its summit in Addis Ababa.
In the past the African Union, Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) called for invoking Article 16 which allows the UNSC to suspend the ICC prosecutions in any case for a period of 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely.
(ST)