Sudan to participate in UN Security Council meeting on ICC

May 31, 2016 (KHARTOUM)- The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, will participate in an anti International Criminal Court (ICC) meeting, to be held at the International Security Council on the 9th of June in New York.

Ghandour will be part of a seven- African minister committee formed by the African Union Peace and Security Council last January to explain the position of the regional body from the war crimes court.

The African Union committee will address the United Nations Security Council to request the postponement of ICC cases against the African leaders, and to suspend any decision already taken against incumbent African leaders.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Ghandour said the committee comprises ministers from Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and Sudan.

He pointed to the full coordination between these countries, saying that each minister will make a speech before the Security Council, as the ICC prosecutor will submit his report on the same day.

The ICC issued two arrest warrants against Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur but Khartoum says the court has no jurisdiction over Sudan, accusing it of becoming a political tool to target African leaders.

In 2013, the African leaders refused ICC decision that calls the Kenyan President, Kenyatta to appear at the ICC, demanding the adjournment on the move based on the basic Rome State, but Kenyatta decided later in 2014 to attend the ICC trial as the first move by incumbent president.

During the AU summit on 1 February following his election as the African Union Chairman, the Chadian President Idriss Deby criticized the ICC saying it only focuses on African leaders.

“Elsewhere in the world, many things happen, many flagrant violations of human rights, but nobody cares,” Deby said at the close of the African summit.

However the summit didn’t take a decision to withdraw collectively from The Hague based court saying it is up to every state to take the appropriate decision.

However, the Kenyan presidency issued a statement saying that the summit decided “to develop a road map for the withdrawal of African nations”.

(ST)